
V 



JistriDiaiMy ii^rjiitoQ^i. 




: 



MONUMENT 



TO THE MEMORY OF 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON: 



CONTAINING TWENTY-FIVE 



EULOGIES AND SERMONS 

DELIVERED ON OCCASION OF HIS DEATH. 



TO WHICH IS ADDED 

AN APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING GENERAL JACKSON'S PROCLAMATION, HIS FAREWELL 
ADDRESS, AND A CERTIFIED COPY OF HIS LAST WILL. 



THE WHOLE PRECEDED BY 

A SHORT SKETCH OF HIS LIFE. 



COMPILED BY B. M. DUSENBERY. 



TROY: 

PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL HANNA. 
18 46. 



277** 






Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 
B. M. DUSENBERY, 

in the office of the clerk of the District Court of the United States, in and for 
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 



lit 



STEREOTYPED BY B. M. DUSENBERY. 



PREFACE. 



The following work has been executed from a desire to 
erect a permanent literary Monument to the memory of 
Jackson. It contains the views of many of the ablest, most 
learned, and most worthy men in the Republic, respecting 
the public and private life of the General, his character, and 
conduct in all the relations which he was called upon by 
God and his country to sustain. In this point of view, the 
eulogies and addresses, contained in this volume, must cer- 
tainly have great value in the estimation not only of the political 
and historical student, but in that of his countrymen gen- 
erally, who have never been backward in acknowledging his 
worth and ability by marks of unbounded confidence. 

General Jackson affords one of the most striking examples, 
recorded in history, of a man rising from the humble walks 
of private life to the most exalted station in the world, by 
dint of perseverance, firmness, integrity, and decision of char- 
acter. His life, therefore, is full of instruction for the people. 
Its events form a study to which it is impossible they should 
give too much attention. No other man ever evinced so 
much knowledge of the character of the American people. 
No public man ever appealed so frequently and boldly to the 

(3) 



iv PREFACE. 

people for support in his public acts ; and none was ever so 
nobly and enthusiastically sustained. Party spirit, of course, 
misrepresented his character and actions, while he was at the 
head of affairs ; but the moment he resigned the reins of 
government, his merit and ability were almost universally 
acknowledged ; and when death had set the seal of immor- 
tality upon his name, it was unhesitatingly enrolled among 
the great and good of all ages. How unanimous was the 
verdict in his favour, the discourses contained in this volume 
will show. They speak one language — that of unqualified 
eulogy. 

The editor of this volume is bound to acknowledge with 
gratitude the courtesy and favour with which his design 
has been regarded, and the prompt and cheerful aid which 
he has received from all quarters. Persons at a distance 
have forwarded materials for the work, unasked, and all 
whose assistance has been solicited have responded to the 
call with alacrity. 

The memoir of General Jackson, prefixed to the eulogies, 
though necessarily brief, has been compiled from the most 
authentic materials, and gives a summary view of the great 
events and actions of his life. It was deemed essential to 
the perfect understanding of the eulogies, which frequently 
refer to the events of the General's life, as universally known. 
However well known they may be, it was necessary, in order 
to render the present work complete in itself, that a memoir 
should be included in it. The editor believes that it will be 
found sufficiently minute and accurate to shed the necessary 
light on the frequent allusions which occur in the eulogies 
and discourses, and to render the whole work the most com- 



PREFACE. 



plete view which has ever been presented of the life and 
character of Jackson. 

The editor is particularly indebted to R. B. Castleman, Esq., 
Clerk of the Court at Nashville, and his deputy, Mr. Phineas 
Garrett, for furnishing a certified copy from the record, of 
the will of General Jackson, as well as to A. V. S. Linds- 
ley, Esq., of Nashville, for his kind offices in relation to the 
obtaining of that invaluable paper. 

To all who have in any manner contributed towards the 
successful completion of the work, the editor returns his 
grateful thanks. They will have the satisfaction of knowing 
that they, as well as the editor, have contributed towards 
the erection of a literary monument to the memory of him, 
whom his countrymen will ever delight to honour. 



CONTENTS. . 



Biographical Sketch P a g e 9 

Eulogy by Hon. George Bancroft Washington City, June 27 33 

" Hon. George M. Dallas Philadelphia, June 26 52 

» Hon. Benjamin F. Butler . . .New York, June 24 59 

" Hon. Levi Woodbury Portsmouth, N. H., July 2 70 

" General Benj. C. Howard . . .Baltimore, July 1 87 

" Hon. John Van Buren Albany, 5* Y., June 30 96 

« Hon. Wilson M'Candless . . .Pittsburgh, July 17 103 

" Hon. M. H. M'Allister Savannah, July 8 118 

" A. F. Morrison, Esq Indianapolis, June 28 133 

« Hon. Francis R. Shunk Harrisburg, July 24 144 

M Hon. Ellis Lewis Lancaster, Pa.. June 26 155 

" Hon. Pliny Merrick Boston, July 9 167 

«' Hon. Hugh A. Garland Petersburg, Va., July 12 183 

'« John A. Bolles, Esq Lowell, Mass., July 18 212 

" Hon. Hendrick B. Wright. . .Wilkesbarre, July 4 235 

" Hon. Andrew Stevenson Richmond, Va., June 28 249 

» Thomas L. Smith, Esq Louisville, Ky., July 3 272 

« W. M'Cartney, Esq Easton, Pa., June 28 280 

" Dr. Samuel A. Cartwright.. .Natchez, Miss., July 12 292 

" Hon. William Irvin Lancaster, Ohio, July 12 306 

" J. G. Harris, Esq Charlotte, Tenn., July 17 316 

Rev. D. D. Lore Pottsville, Pa., July 10 333 

Sermon by Rev. G. W. Bethune Philadelphia, July 6 343 

" Rev. Thomas Brainerd " " 356 

Appendix: 

Proclamation 371 

Farewell Address 389 

Last Will and Testament 407 

(7) 






BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



OP 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 



To the lessons inculcated upon the youthful mind of Andrew 
Jackson by his exemplary mother, are to be attributed much of 
the fixed opposition to British oppression arid tyranny, and the 
determined defence and support of the rights of his country, 
which distinguished him throughout the whole of his eventful 
career. His grandfather, who was born in the province of 
Ulster, in Ireland, was descended of Scotch ancestors, and at- 
tached to their manners, language, and religion. He had four 
sons, the youngest of whom married Elizabeth Hutchinson, and 
emigrated from Ireland in the year 1765, bringing with him his 
two young sons, Hugh and Robert. He landed at Charleston, 
and purchased a tract of land, with three of* his old neighbours, 
in what was called the Waxhaw settlement, in South Carolina. 
There, on the 15th of March, 1767, Andrew Jackson was born. 

His father died about the same time, leaving his name to his 
young son, and the care of her three children to his wife, who 
faithfully and successfully executed the duties which thus de- 
volved upon her. Her youngest son she intended for the 
church, and therefore aimed at giving him more than the com- 
mon school education which his older brothers received. The 

(9) 



10 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

direction of his studies was committed to the care of Mr. 
Humphries, the superintendent of a flourishing academy at the 
Waxhaw meeting-house. There he remained until the near 
approach of the ravages of the Revolutionary war rendered it 
necessary for the young Jacksons to leave the country or choose 
sides with the combatants. The cause of their country was 
their own. The sufferings of their grandfather at the siege 
of Carrickfergus, and the oppressions endured by the labour- 
ing poor at the hands of the proud Irish nobility, had fur- 
nished themes to their mother for conversation over the win- 
ter's fire ; their tears had flowed in compassion, while their 
antipathy to the cause of the woes they wept over became in- 
corporated with their nature. Their mother had accompanied 
her husband to America, that they might escape from the ruth- 
less tyranny of their English oppressors, and she readily en- 
couraged the ardour of their patriotic devotion, and indulged 
them in attending the drill and general musters of the neigh- 
bourhood. 

In the year 1779, the British invaded South Carolina, under 
General Prevost. Charleston must have fallen if that officer 
had marched rapidly forward ; but he halted on the way, and 
gave time to the citizens to prepare for defence, and to General 
Lincoln to advance to their assistance. Prevost soon after re- 
turned to Savannah, leaving the post at Stono Ferry in. charge 
of a garrison, which Lincoln determined to cut off. He ad- 
vanced against it on the 20th of June, with twelve hundred 
men, but a part of Jbis plan failed, and the attempt was unsuc- 
cessful. In this battle, Hugh Jackson, the general's oldest 
brother, lost his life, from the excessive heat of the weather, 
and the fatigues of the day. He had marched to battle as a 
volunteer in the corps of the gallant Colonel Davie, who was 
severely wounded in the conflict. A desire to avenge the death of 
his brother was thus added to the other causes of enmity towards 
the brutal invaders of his country, and Andrew, at the age of 
fourteen, accompanied his brother Robert to the American 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 11 

camp, and engaged actively in the cause of freedom. The Bri- 
tish commanders in the commencement of the struggle had 
promised that the people might remain in peace in their homes, 
on condition of giving their parol not to take part in the war. 
But w T hen active resistance had ceased, and the state appeared 
to be reduced to its former allegiance, they issued a proclama- 
tion requiring the inhabitants to enrol themselves in the militia, 
and be prepared to perform active service for the cause of the 
king. This act of injustice roused the spirit of resistance, and 
caused many true patriots to gather round the standards erected 
by the noble partisans Marion, Sumter, Pickens, and Davies. 
Almost all of the Waxhaw settlers who engaged in the partisan 
warfare, united under Colonel Davies. A plan was arranged 
by Sumter and Davies, which had for its object the destruction 
of the British garrisons at Rocky Mount and Hanging Rock. 
Sumter made three bold attacks on the former post on the 30th 
of July, 17S0, but without success. Meanwhile Davies, who 
had been watching the garrison in Hanging Rock, cut off a 
foraging party consisting of three companies of tories. Sixty 
horses and one hundred muskets, secured by this success, formed 
a very acceptable addition to the stables and military chest of 
Sumter, who, soon after, united his forces with those of Davies. 
The two commanders next marched against Hanging Rock. 
The contest was long and bloody. At length the badly dis- 
ciplined troops of Sumter, finding themselves in possession of 
the greater part of the enemy's camp, and supposing the victory 
to be won, took to plundering and carousing. But the remnant 
of the garrison refused to surrender, and Sumter could get only 
two hundred of his men to continue the fight. Finding that 
the remainder of his men were rapidly becoming intoxicated, he 
reluctantly gave up the victory he had fairly won. 

This was the first field of Andrew Jackson. Though but 
thirteen years of age, he fought like a veteran, and the Wax- 
haw settlers on that day suffered heavy loss. The unfortunate 
result of the fight, too, must have strongly impressed upon his 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP 

mind the value of strict military regulations, and contributed to 
form the love of discipline which after-wards characterized his 
operations as a general, and which produced the declaration of 
martial law when perfidy was suspected at New Orleans. 
When Cornwallis advanced towards Charlotte, the Americans, 
inferior in numbers and discipline, and unable to cope with the 
well-armed and well-appointed veterans of the British army, 
retired into North Carolina. 

When Cornwallis had crossed the Yadkin, the Waxhaw set- 
tlers boldly returned to their homes. In these times of trouble 
the laws were silent, and crime went unpunished and wrongs 
unrevenged. Active whigs dared not spend a night in their 
own houses, unguarded, without danger of surprise and death 
at the hands of their savage enemies. The young Jacksons 
were constantly mounted and armed, and incurring every danger 
with their patriotic friends and neighbours. On one occasion, a 
noted patriot captain, named Sands, desired to spend a night 
with his family ; and eight soldiers, among whom were Robert 
and Andrew Jackson, constituted his guard. In the night, a 
band of tories was heard advancing to capture the house and its 
inhabitants. A British deserter, who was on the watch, gave 
the alarm to Andrew Jackson, who immediately seized his gun 
and ran out to meet one division of the band. Having hailed, 
and receiving no answer, he put his gun through the fork of an 
apple-tree, and fired upon the enemy. A volley was returned 
which killed the soldier near his side. Jackson then went into 
the house, while another division of the enemy advancing to 
attack on the opposite side, mistook the fire of their friends for 
a volley from the house, and began to return it. Thus they 
continued firing, partly upon their friends and partly upon the 
house, until an officer, who was in the neighbourhood, gallopped 
towards the house alone, sounding a cavalry charge on his 
trumpet. The tories became frightened and retired. Jackson 
had commenced firing from the door after re-entering the house, 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 13 

where two of his companions were shot down. He was then 
but fourteen years old. 

Rawdon, who was actively engaged in making a desert of 
the country around Camden, was no sooner advised of the re- 
turn of the Waxhaw settlers, than he determined to capture 
or destroy them. Major Coffin was intrusted with the execu- 
tion of his plan. He succeeded in surprising the settlers, al- 
though they were collected together at the Waxhaw meeting- 
house; eleven were taken prisoners, and the rest escaped with 
great difficulty. Among those who fled were the two Jack- 
sons. They continued during the night in a thicket, but left it 
on the following morning for the purpose of procuring food. 
They were surprised at the house of Lieutenant Crawford, by 
a party of dragoons and tories, who had been guided thither 
by a tory named Johnson. While the troops were actively 
engaged in demolishing the furniture of the house and the 
clothing of its inhabitants, the commanding officer, whose boots 
had been mudded in crossing a creek, commanded the younger 
Jackson to clean them. He received an indignant refusal, and 
a demand for the treatment due to a prisoner of war. The 
cowardly ruffian aimed a blow at his head with his sword, but 
the young hero parried it with his left hand, upon which he 
received a severe wound. Robert Jackson for a like refusal 
received a wound on his head, which was not dressed while he 
remained a prisoner, and which caused his death a few days 
after his release. This was effected after the battle of Cam- 
den, by a partisan captain named Walker, who gave thirteen 
British prisoners in exchange for the two Jacksons and five of 
their neighbours. At the time of their release, the two Jack- 
sons were both infected with the small-pox. The oldest son 
died, but Andrew was enabled by the natural vigour of his 
constitution to survive this complication of ills. 

Before he had thoroughly recovered his health, his mother 
left him on an errand of mercy to the unfortunate captives who 
were confined in the prison-ships at Charleston. There she 
2 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

caught the fever which raged among the prisoners, and soon 
after ended her days. Thus Andrew Jackson was left the only 
survivor of the family of his father, the remainder having been 
brought to the grave by the ruthless tyranny of the British, 
*o avoid which he had sought a home in the wilds of Ame- 
rica. Deprived of the counsel of his excellent mother, and 
thrown into the society of some of the most extravagant young 
men of Charleston, who resided at the Waxhaws while the* 
British held that place, Jackson commenced wasting his patri- 
mony, and corrupting his habits. 

But foreseeing that by continuing in the mad career he had 
commenced, he would eventually come to rely for support upon 
his own unaided exertions, he suddenly checked himself in his 
course of dissipation, and returned to his studies. The pulpit 
he now abandoned for the bar, and his legal acquirements were 
directed by two eminent counsellors, Judge McCay and Colonel 
Stokes. He had not pursued pleasure more ardently than he 
now sought for proficiency in his legal studies, and he received 
a license to practise as an attorney in two years from the time 
when he devoted his attention to the law. Those two years 
had been spent at Salisbury, in North Carolina, in which state 
he continued until 1788. In that year he accompanied Judge 
McNairy to the western district of North Carolina, comprising 
what is now the state of Tennessee. The judge had recently- 
been appointed, and he was going thither to hold his first court. 
When they reached that district, Jackson found that the young 
adventurers of the place had become indebted to the merchants, 
and had conspired to retain in their interest the only lawyer in 
the country, so that the creditors were unable to prosecute their 
claims. They joyfully hailed the arrival of another lawyer, 
and Jackson, on the morning after his arrival, issued seventy 
writs. Such a prosperous opening was a strong inducement for 
him to remain in that part of the country, and the attempts made 
by the debtors to force him to leave it, produced a directly op- 
posite effect. Fearing to encounter the bold lawyer in a per- 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 15 

sonal attack, these peisons caused him to be assailed by bullies, 
a class of the most abandoned men, who were accustomed to 
decide every question by a fight. The first attack of this kind 
was made by a flax-breaker, remarkable for his strength and 
brute courage. Jackson reduced him to submission with his 
own winding-blades. When conversing with a gentleman con- 
cerning business, a noted bully approached and trod purposely 
on Jackson's foot. The young lawyer pushed him off, and 
brought him to the ground with a blow of a slab. The crowd 
interfered to stop the conflict, but the bully, with horrid impre- 
cations, snatched a stake from the fence and attempted to re- 
new the attack. Jackson requested the crowd to stand aside, 
and moved with a firm step and steady eye towards the ruffian, 
who, struck with terror, dropped the stake, and fled into the 
woods. His bold conduct in these attacks convinced his 
enemies of their inutility, and he was therefore suffered to pro- 
ceed in the prosecution of his professional duties without 
molestation. 

His industry and talents recommended him to all the better 
portion of the community, and even his enemies respected while 
they feared and hated him. He received the appointment of 
attorney for the western district, and soon after discovered that 
enormous frauds had been practised in the North Carolina land 
office. These he deemed it his duty to expose, and he prose- 
cuted the perpetrators. The hostility of a large protion of the 
inhabitants, who were often interested in these fraudulent trans- 
actions, was by this means drawn down upon his head. 

His business as attorney was divided between Jonesborough, 
and Nashville, and other settlements on the Cumberland river. 
Between these places there was a wilderness of two hundred 
miles, which Jackson crossed twenty-two times in the perform- 
ance of his duties. The crossing of this wilderness was a task 
of no little difficulty and danger. The Cherokees and Choc- 
taws on the south, and the Shawnees on the north, waged 
almost perpetual warfare with the early settlers, who were in 



16 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

this manner accustomed to the use of arms, and skilled in savage 
tactics. Jackson soon became known as one of the boldest of 
the brave spirits with which the country abounded, and the fear 
and respect entertained for him by the Indians is evinced by 
the names of " Sharp Knife," and " Pointed Arrow," which 
they applied to him. To the experience he acquired in these 
journeys, perhaps, is to be attributed much of the success 
which subsequently attended his operations in the country of 
the Creeks. 

The distinction which his courage and resolution in these and 
similar situations had acquired for Jackson was widely extended. 
He stood high in the estimation of all classes, and his fellow- 
citizens embraced every opportunity of honouring him with their 
confidence. He was chosen a member of the convention for 
the formation of a constitution for the new state of Tennessee, 
and when that state was admitted into the Union, he was her 
first representative in Congress. One year afterwards, in 1797, 
he was chosen a member of the Senate of the United States for 
the state of Tennessee. He connected himself with the repub- 
lican party, but resigned in 1799, on account of the great pre- 
ponderance of the federalists in the Senate. On his return to 
Tennessee, he took an active part in the election which trans- 
ferred the executive power from the hands of Mr. Adams to 
those of Thomas Jefferson. 

He was again called into public life at the age of thirty by 
his appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court of the state. 
Though he reluctantly accepted this office, he performed its 
duties with his usual firmness. The robber, the murderer, and 
the outlaw, were brought to justice, the innocent and the injured 
were protected and avenged, and the hitherto despised authority 
of the court was everywhere respected and acknowledged. 

On the occasion of holding his first court at Jonesborough, 
an exceedingly strong and ferocious man, named Russell Bean, 
was indicted for assaulting his child when intoxicated. The 
sheriff, a timid man, feared to approach him, though he was in 



GENERAL ANDREW .TACKSON. 



17 



the court yard, and made to the court the return that Bean 
would not be taken. Judge Jackson refused to receive the re- 
turn, and directed the shciff, if necessary, to summon the posse 
comitatus. The sheriff, when the court adjourned, summoned 
the judge himself as part of the posse. Jackson procured a 
loaded pistol, and advanced towards the armed desperado, who 
was bidding defiance to the laws. 

As Jackson came near him, he began to retreat, but stopped, 
threw down his arms, and surrendered at the command of the 
resolute judge. 

John Sevier, the governor of the state, was among the num- 
ber of his enemies. His enmity to Jackson was naturally 
shared by the party which supported him, and rose to such a 
height, that a combination was formed to mob him when he 
should come to hold his court at Jonesborough, in the fall of 
IS03. He was so sick on the road as to be scarcely able to 
sit his horse ; but he learned the reception which awaited him, 
and pressed forward eagerly to Jonesborough. He was suffer- 
ing from a high fever when he arrived, and he therefore retired 
to his room and lay down upon his bed. Shortly after, Colonel 
Harrison, with a regiment of men, arrived in front of the house, 
prepared to tar and feather him. He was advised to lock his 
door, but he arose, threw it wide open, and sent a friend with 
his compliments to the colonel, to say that his door was open 
to receive him and his regiment whenever they chose to wait 
upon him ; and that he hoped the chivalric colonel would lead 
his men, and not follow them. The message was delivered, the 
mob dispersed, the colonel apologized for the inconsiderate vio- 
lence of his conduct, and became thenceforward one of the firm- 
est friends of General Jackson.* 

An attack made upon him in Knoxville by Governor Sevier 
drew forth a challenge from Jackson, but the conduct of the 
governor was so vacillating and cowardly, that the judge 



* Kendall's Life of Jackson. 
2 * 



18 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

finally attacked him in the midst of his friends, and would have 
chastised him with a cane but for their interference. These 
altercations with the governor, who was implicated in the land 
frauds, the perpetrators of which Jackson was resolved to punish 
if he continued on the bench, rendered his position there irksome 
in the extreme, and he resigned in 1804, six years after his 
appointment. 

He had accepted the office of major-general of Tennessee, 
when it was tendered to him by a vote of the field officers, but 
the discharge of its duties interfered little with the enjoyment 
of a peaceful retirement. The practice of his profession had 
acquired for him a fortune suited to his limited wants, and he 
devoted himself to the business of planting on his farm on the 
banks of the Cumberland. 

His passion for fine horses led him to turn his attention to 
raising them from good stock, and few if any men were more suc- 
cessful. The desire of exhibiting horses of his raising, and of 
recommending them to purchasers, naturally led him to bring 
them out upon the race-courses. Some difficulties had arisen 
about a sum of money forfeited to him by a Mr. Erwin and 
Charles Dickinson, his son-in-law. This was satisfactorily ad- 
justed, but there were other persons who desired to bring about 
a duel between Jackson and Dickinson, and they unfortunately 
succeeded. Dickinson was accounted the best shot in his coun- 
try : the prospect of a fight with Jackson ilattered his pride, 
and he readily complied with the suggestions of those about him 
to push matters to extremities. Much newspaper altercation 
followed, and insults passed freely. At length Dickinson gave 
into the hands of the printer a paper containing direct imputa- 
tions of cowardice, and a notice that the writer was about to 
leave the state. This drew from Jackson a challenge, which 
was accepted, and the time fixed. Dickinson spent the inter- 
vening period in perfecting his practice, boasted how often he 
had hit the general chalked out on a tree, and offered to bet that 
he would kill his antagonist at the meeting. All this was 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 19 

made known to Jackson, who went upon the ground in the full 
expectation of losing his life. At the word, Dickinson fired, 
and the dust flew from Jackson's clothes ; Jackson then fired, 
and Dickinson fell. He was carried into a neighbouring house, 
where he soon expired. Jackson mounted his horse and tra- 
velled twenty miles with his friend and surgeon: the blood 
oozing through his clothes then first discovered to the latter 
that the general was wounded. Two of his ribs were shattered 
near their articulation with the breast-bone, and it was some time 
before he could attend to business. None on the ground knew 
that he was wounded except himself, yet the unfeeling conduct 
of his antagonist before the meeting had so exasperated his 
fearless spirit, that he said to a friend who was astonished at 
his self-command, " Sir, I should have killed him if he had shot 
me through the brain."* 

Every effort to preserve honourable peace between Great 
Britain and America having failed, Congress declared war, June 
12th, 1812. Under the authority of an act directing the presi- 
dent to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers, Jackson 
issued an address to the citizens of his division, which brought 
twenty-five hundred of them around his standard. Their ser- 
vices were tendered to the government and accepted, and Gene- 
ral Jackson received the thanks of the president and the governor 
of the state for his zeal in the public service. In November, 
he received orders to place himself at the head of fifteen 
hundred infantry and riflemen, and descend the Mississippi to 
aid General Wilkinson in defending the lower country, then 
supposed to be in danger. With the greatest firmness the 
troops rendezvoused at Nashville, and advanced towards the 
place of their destination. It was in the latter part of Decem- 
ber ; the ground was covered with snow, and the weather was 
excessively severe ; yet such was the eagerness for service, that 
two thousand and seventy men presented themselves, nearly 



* Kendall'sLife of Jackson. 



20 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OP 

all armed and equipped at their own expense. All of them 
were taken with him, lest their ardour should be damped by 
sending any of them to their homes ; and Jackson, in a general 
order published at Nashville, promised to be a father to the 
whole of them. The army marched through the ice and snow 
to Natchez, where General Jackson was instructed to remain 
until he received further orders. Meanwhile, the prospect of 
immediate war in that quarter had disappeared, and an order 
was issued by the secretary of war, directing General Jackson 
to dismiss the troops under his command from service, and to 
take measures for delivering every article of the public property 
in his possession to General Wilkinson. When this order 
reached his camp, there were one hundred and fifty men on the 
sick list, fifty-six of whom were unable to raise their heads. 
Besides, none of the troops were possessed of sufficient funds to 
pay their way home. Along with the general order, came a 
letter from General Wilkinson, who feared an intention on the 
part of Jackson to supersede him in the command. In his epis- 
tle, Wilkinson informed General Jackson that he might still 
perform a very acceptable service by encouraging the recruiting 
service among the soldiers under his command. There have not 
been wanting those, who, dispassionately examining the con- 
nection between the orders of the secretary and the letters of 
Wilkinson, have supposed the apprehensions of the latter, in 
regard to precedence in rank, to furnish the key to the action 
of the government. 

To comply with the order of the secretary, the general would 
have been obliged to leave his sick without medicines or tents, 
and to discharge the remainder, in a strange country, where 
they would probably be forced into the regular service, or fall 
victims to vice and disease. He remembered the promise which 
he had given to his troops in Nashville, and he determined to 
obey the order only so far as it accorded with that promise. 
A recruiting officer was found near his encampment : he threat- 
ened him with a drumming out of the camp unless he departed 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 21 

The general then issued an order to the troops, informing them 
of his determination not to abandon them, but to lead them all 
back to their country and their friends. His kind conduct ani- 
mated the whole body, and almost all the sick became so much 
better, that the detachment was in better health on its return to 
Nashville than it had been when it set out. 

Though he had felt hurt at the treatment which he had re- 
ceived from the secretary, yet his indignation against Hull was 
so great, that he wrote to Washington on his way home, offer- 
ing to increase the force under his command, and to continue 
his march to Maiden. 

This offer was not accepted, but the secretary attempted to 
explain away the imputation of injustice to the Tennessee volun- 
teers, and the government sanctioned the conduct of the general, 
and relieved him from the pecuniary responsibilities which he 
had incurred for his troops. 

The Creek Indians, who had been induced to join the great 
Indian confederacy, organized by Tecumseh and his brother, 
the Shawnee Prophet, commenced hostilities against the western 
settlements in the early part of the year 1812. The outrages 
they committed attracted the attention of the general govern- 
ment, and the governor of Tennessee was directed to detail a 
body of the militia of his state, to be in readiness for active ser- 
vice. The first attack of real war was made by the Indians on 
Fort Mims, situated in the Tensaw settlement, in the territory 
of Mississippi. The fort contained one hundred and fifty men, 
under Major Beasley, w 7 ith as many more members of families 
who had sought safety there. Of the whole number, but 
seventeen escaped from the indiscriminate slaughter to bring in- 
telligence of the outrage to other parts of the country. The 
people of Tennessee prepared to take up arms for the purpose 
of avenging this outrage, and General Jackson advised that a 
large force should be immediately marched into the heart of the 
Creek country. Four thousand of the militia were called out 
by the legislature. 



22 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

On the 7th of October, General Jackson took command of 
the troops at Fayetteville. There he received an express from 
Colonel Coffee, informing him that the Creek chiefs were march- 
ing with the main body of their warriors towards the frontiers 
of Tennessee. Apprehensive of failure on the part of the con- 
tractors to supply provisions for the West Tennessee troops 
under his command, he had requested Generals Cocke and 
White, who commanded those from the eastern part of the state, 
to send breadstuff's to his army by the Tennessee river. But 
when he reached that stream, on the 12th of October, no sup- 
plies from above had been received. He waited there for it a 
week, employed in disciplining his army, which somewhat ex- 
ceeded two thousand men. A friendly chief of the Creek tribe 
had erected a fort for his own defence, which was threatened 
with destruction by the advancing enemy, and he therefore 
sent to Jackson for assistance. The general marched on the 
19th with hardly a week's provisions on hand, for Thompson's 
Creek, determined to proceed to the Ten Islands, on the Coosa 
river, near which the enemy was concentrating. 

Having, though almost destitute of food, reached the Coosa 
river, General Coffee was ordered to cross it on the 2d of 
November, and with five hundred men of his brigade, attack 
and destroy the town of Tallushatchee. The hostile Creeks 
there collected hailed with joy the approach of their opponents. 
Mingling their savage yells and war-whoops with the noise of 
drums, they charged the advanced companies with an almost 
supernatural fury. But their onset was bravely received, and 
they were compelled to retreat, fighting until they got within 
their buildings, where an obstinate conflict ensued, the Indians 
resisting when unable to stand, and neither asking nor receiving 
quarter. One hundred and eighty-six were killed, and eighty- 
four women and children taken prisoners. General Coffee lost 
five killed and forty-one wounded. At the Ten Islands Gene- 
ral Jackson established a post called Fort Strother, and sent an 
express requiring the troops from East Tennessee to march 






GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 23 

forthwith to his assistance. A runner from Talladega, a fort 
of the friendly Indians, thirty miles distant, informed him that 
the enemy had encamped before it in great numbers, and would 
certainly destroy it unless he afforded immediate assistance. 
He despatched a messenger to General White, ordering him to 
reach Fort Strother in the course of the ensuing night, and pro- 
tect it in his absence. Leaving there the sick and wounded, he 
marched instantly for Talladega. He found the enemy posted 
within a quarter of a mile of the fort, apparently in great force. 
The action was as warm as it was short. In fifteen minutes 
the Indians were seen fleeing in every direction, but the fight 
was maintained with spirit and effect as well after the flight as 
before. The pursuit terminated when the enemy gained the 
mountains, three miles distant. Nearly eleven hundred In- 
dians were engaged in this action : two hundred and ninety-nine 
were left dead on the ground, and many were probably killed 
in the flight and not found. Almost all of them were wounded, 
and many afterwards died. 

Meanwhile, Jackson had learned that in compliance with an 
order from General Cocke, the East Tennessee troops under 

I White had marched to Chataugan Creek, leaving the feeble gar- 

I rison at Fort Strother unprotected. Added to this, the want 
of provisions prevented him from following up his victory, com- 

' pelling him to retire while the enemy recovered from their con- 
sternation, and reassembled their forces. When he reached the 
fort, he found that no provisions had been forwarded since his 
departure, and even his private stores, on which he and his 
staff had hitherto subsisted, had been exhausted by the wounded 
and sick. The only support afforded to the army was a scanty 
supply of indifferent beef, taken from the enemy, or purchased 
from the Cherokees. Suffering as much from hunger as his 
men, General Jackson repaired to the bullock-pen, and there 

, selected from the offal what he was pleased to call a very com- 
fortable repast. Another example of patience and suffering was 
afforded to his murmuring soldiers by the patriotic general dur- 



24 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH or 

ing this campaign. A soldier perceived the general sitting be- 
neath a tree, busily engaged in eating something, while the rear 
of the army was coming up. Half starved himself, and believing 
that the officers, and Jackson particularly, were well supplied, 
he came boldly up to him, stated his condition, and demanded a 
share of the general's feast. " I will willingly share with you 
what I have," said the general, offering him some of the acorns 
which he had found beneath the tree, and which he said was 
the best and only fare he had. The astonished soldier retired 
to report to his companions the fact that the general fed him- 
self with acorns, and to urge them henceforth to bear the suf- 
ferings which he nobly shared without complaint. Eut though 
the privations which Jackson suffered failed to move him, he 
felt much concern for his army, and continually exerted him- 
self to remove their sufferings. 

But discontent and a desire to return home gradually spread 
through the camp, and revolt at length began to show itself 
openly. The officers and soldiers of the militia determined to 
leave the camp, and drew up early one morning to carry their 
design into execution ; but they found the volunteers prepared 
to prevent their progress, and force them to return to their old 
position in the camp. The firmness of their general was too 
much for them ; they abandoned their purpose and retired to 
their quarters. The volunteers, however, were equally disaf- 
fected with the militia ; they had opposed the mutineers only 
to escape suspicion, and really wished them success. Supposing 
that the general could find no means to prevent their desertion 
in a body, they determined to march off on the next morning. 
Words fail to express their confusion and astonishment, when 
they found the very militia whom they had yesterday forced 
into their quarters, prepared to execute a similar office for them 
to-day. They carried the play through, and returned in good 
order to their former position. 

General Jackson at length agreed to march homeward, if the 
expected supplies were not received within two days. They 



GENRRAL ANDREW JACKSON. 25 

came not, and the army marched, leaving Fort Strother under 
the protection of a small band of patriots, whom Captain Gor- 
don had induced to remain. Twelve miles from the fort, the 
armv met a drove of one hundred and fifty beeves. After hav- 
ing satisfied their appetites, the general ordered the troops to 
return; but they had commenced a homeward march, and were 
unwilling to encounter again the perils of war. Almost the 
whole brigade had put itself in an attitude for moving off, and 
the campaign would certainly have been broken off* but for the 
firmness of the general. Mounting his horse, he threw himself 
in front of the column, armed with a musket. He was not able 
to use his left arm, but he rested the musket on the neck of 
his horse, and threatened to shoot the first man who should 
attempt to advance. The disaffected troops maintained a sullen 
! silence, until two faithful companies had formed in the rear of 
the general and in front of them, prepared to imitate his exam- 
ple in firing. They then turned quietly round, and agreed to 
return to their posts. But no good results could be brought 
about by disaffected troops, and the general at length resolved 
to allow them to return home. 

He himself remained with a few faithful soldiers until 
January 1814, when he was reinforced by a small detachment 
of raw militia, with which he determined to march to Emuck- 
faw, on the Tallapoosa river. At this place there was sup- 
posed to be congregated a large force of hostile Indians, 
ready to destroy the Georgia troops under General Floyd. 
At Talladega two hundred friendly Indians were added to 
his force, but they were dispirited at the apparent weakness 
of his army, and added little to its real strength. Intelligence 
from the commanding officer at Fort Armstrong, advising him 
that the enemy was preparing to attack that weak and almost 
defenceless position, determined him to proceed. His white 
force, which consisted of less than nine hundred new recruits, 
were badly disciplined, but full of ardour and confidence in their 
general. On the night of the 21st, a large Indian encampment 
3 



20 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ' OF 

•was discovered, in which the savages were whooping and danc- 
ing, apparently aware of his approach. The general put his 
army in readiness for an attack. At six o'clock in the follow- 
ing morning, the enemy commenced the battle by furiously as- 
saulting the left wing. They were gallantly repulsed, but re- 
newed the fight with great fury. They were unable, however, 
to withstand the bayonet, and returned to their camp. 

Though his army had been victorious, General Jackson 
was but too well aware of the disparity between his force 
and that of the enemy. His troops were not well supplied 
with provisions, and the enemy, when reinforced from the 
towns below, would be able to prevent his return. Under these 
circumstances he determined to retreat to Fort Strother. On 
crossing a creek called Enotochopco, on his way to the 
Emuckfaw, he had observed that there was, near the ford, a 
dangerous defile, overgrown with thick shrubbery, and affording 
every convenience for concealment and safety from pursuit. As 
the enemy hung round his army on the march without attack- 
ing, General Jackson concluded that they intended to form an 
, ambuscade in this defile, and he therefore sent his pioneers to 
look for another crossing-place below. One was found, and the 
army was led towards it, formed in order of battle. Part of 
the army had crossed the river before the Indians were aware 
of the change in the place of crossing. They made a furious 
attack on the rear, which commenced a shameful flight to Ihe 
creek. The artillery company under Lieutenant Armstrong 
dragged their piece of ordnance from the creek to an eminence 
where they could use it to advantage. This attracted the 
attention of the foe, who entered into an obstinate contest 
for its possession. Carroll and Armstrong kept the enemy 
at bay until assistance arrived. Shot down at the side of his 
gun, Armstrong exhorted his men to continue the defence.. 
" Some of you must fall," said he, " but don't lose the gun." 
The cartridges were driven home with the butt end of a musket, 
and prepared for the match with the ramrod : Captain Gordon 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 27 

made an active charge on the left flank of the enemy with 
his company of spies, and General Jackson, led his men again 
into the battle, and restored the fate of the day. The 
savages fled, leaving behind everything likely to retard their 
speed. 

When the troops had reached Fort Strother, their term of 
service, which numbered only sixty days, had almost expired, 
and General Jackson therefore honourably discharged them. 
The volunteers who had remained with him when their fellows 
returned home, were also marched into Tennessee, and there 
dismissed with testimonials of their honour, fidelity and patriot- 
ism. General Jackson was soon after joined by a fresh army 
of nearly three thousand men, with which he determined to ad- 
vance into the enemy's country. Having learned that the 
main body of the Indians were in the neighbourhood of Emuck- 
faw, he marched thither, and found them in a bend of the 
Tallapoosa, called, from its shape, Tohopeka, or the Horse 
Shoe. A well- constructed breastwork had been erected across 
the neck which connected their retreat with the main land, 
and the savages considered themselves perfectly secure. 

Coffee crossed the river and surrounded the bend, to prevent 
the retreat of the enemy. Jackson then commenced a cannon- 
ade in front, and Coffee sent a detachment over to attack the 
enemy in the rear of the fortification. The works were then 
stormed, and a furious battle ensued within the enclosure. 
Over eight hundred of the enemy's bravest warriors perished 
in the place of their supposed greatest security, and the small 
remnant of their nation soon after sought for peace. The 
victorious Tennesseeans were now dismissed ; but their com- 
mander had attracted the attention of the whole country by the 
firmness, intrepidity, and daring with which he faced the pains 
of starvation and the rifles of the enemy until the war was 
gloriously ended, and he was called into a wider sphere of action. 
He received the appointment of major-general in the army of 



28 DIOGKArillCAL SKETCH of 

the United States, and was made a commissioner to negotiate a 
treaty of peace and alliance with the Creeks. 

While performing this duty, he noticed the protection and 
encouragement which the hostile Indians had hitherto and still 
received from the governor of the Spanish fortress of Pensacola. 
He despatched Captain Gordon as a commissioner to that gover- 
nor with the causes of complaint, requiring him to state the 
course he intended to pursue, whether he would preserve the 
peace between the two nations, or cloak the realities of war be- 
neath the appearance of friendship. The governor admitted 
that he had supplied the Indians with arms, and Captain Gordon 
reported that he had seen under the eye of the governor, from 
" One hundred and fifty to two hundred British officers and sol- 
diers, and a park of artillery, with five hundred Indians in the 
British military dress, armed with new muskets and under the 
drill of British officers. Added to this, a British flag was seen 
flying from a Spanish fort." Jackson determined to supply its 
place with the American Eagle. 

Reinforced by two thousand Tennessee volunteers under 
Coffee, General Jackson determined to take the responsibility, 
and end the governor's violation of all principles of right and 
neutrality. He advanced upon the town, and sent a flag to 
the fort, but it was fired on from beneath the Spanish flag. 
The capture of the city by force w r as speedily effected. The 
British retreated, the hostile Creeks were driven out and pur- 
sued, and the Spanish forts were surrendered to him, to be held 
until Spain could maintain neutrality. The general then marched 
for New Orleans, where an attack was expected to be made 
by the British. 

lie arrived in that city on the 1st of December, and 
established there his head-quarters. The story of the invasion 
of Louisiana has been too often told to need recounting here. 
He summoned every means of defence, fortified every vulnera- 
ble point, prevented many of the evil effects which it had been 
anticipated would be produced by British gold upon a motley 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 29 

French and Spanish population, by declaring martial law, and 
quieted the apprehensions of many of the inhabitants by the 
confidence with which he assured them that the British would 
never reach the city. 

The leading traits in Jackson's character, promptitude in de- 
cision, and activity in execution, had at New Orleans a wide 
field for their display. The enemy landed undiscovered at 
noon on the 23d of December : in the night after that day, 
he was attacked by the fearless general. With a militia 
force, numbering but half that of the enemy, Jackson broke 
into the camp, and drove before him the bravest veterans of 
England, the conquerors of Europe. The British had ex- 
pected little opposition, were certain of success, and unable 
to conceive, notwithstanding what they had heard of the cha- 
racter of their opponent, that he would hazard his reputation 
by attacking, on its chosen ground, an army famed throughout 
the world for the victories it had gained. The attack of the 
23d was of the utmost importance : new life was infused into 
the American arm)', while the ardour of the British became 
changed to a depressing state of doubt and uncertainty. Time 
was now consumed in preparations before considered unnecessary ; 
and every hour that the British delayed the attack, was im- 
proved by the Americans in increasing the strength of their works, 
that they might make a successful resistance when itshouldbemade. 
Several bales of cotton belonging to a Frenchman, had been 
applied with others to strengthening an embrasure on the line. 
Apprehensive that it would receive injury, he proceeded in per- 
son to General Jackson to reclaim it, and demand its delivery. 
When he had stated his business, the general desired to know 
whether he was employed in any military service. He replied 
that he was not. Then the general directed a musket to be put 
in his hand, and ordered him on the line, remarking that none 
had a better right to fight than those who had property to de- 
fend. 

The morning of the 8th of January was chosen for a final 
3* 



30 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF 

assault upon the American works. The British marched to 
the attack, confident that a warm fire from a body of vete- 
ran troops would instantly put to flight a whole host of militia. 
An unremitting fire from cannons, rifles, and muskets, answered 
their discharge of bombs, balls, and Congreve rockets. The 
commander-in-chief, and two of his aids, fell victims to their 
presumption, and the horror-stricken soldiers refused again to 
encounter the destruction which had fallen upon their comrades. 
The efforts of their general to stop them were unavailing ; they 
acted the very part which they had assigned to the militia, 
abandoned the contest and the field in disorder. On the 18th 
of January they re-embarked with the greatest silence and cau- 
tion, the British commander leaving to the hospitality of General 
Jackson eighty of his soldiers, who were too severely wounded 
to be removed. He suspended for the present, he said, all fur- 
ther operations against New Orleans, and requested his huma- 
nity towards the wounded he had left, and whom necessity had 
compelled him to abandon. 

To the glory of having freed the country from a most for- 
midable foe, General Jackson was now to add that of laying 
aside his official dignity, to answer at the bar as a private citi- 
zen a charge of having infracted the laws of his country. 

During the continuance of martial law, General Jackson had 
had some difficulties with Judge Hall, which ended in an order 
to the judge to leave the encampment. When peace was re- 
stored, the judge summoned Jackson to show cause why an at- 
tachment for contempt should not issue against him. Jackson 
restrained the fury of the people, appeared at the bar of the 
court, suffered the judge to become the prosecutor and arbiter 
of his own grievances, and paid the fine of one thousand dollars 
which was conceived to be due to the offended majesty of the 
laws. Before he died, however, the general had the satisfaction 
to receive by a vote of Congress a reversal of the judgment of 
Hall, and the return of the fine with interest. 

For some time after the victory of New Orleans, bands of Se- 



GENERAL ANDREW JACKSON. 31 

minoles, Creeks, and runaway negroes found an asylum in the 
neutral Spanish territory of Pensacola, whence they made hos- 
tile incursions upon the frontier settlements. Towards the close 
of the year 1819, the general government ordered Jackson to 
go there with a sufficient force to repress these incursions, and 
gave him authority to pursue the enemy across the Spanish line, 
if necessary. He routed the Indians in several engagements, 
and ascertained that these ravages had been made at the insti- 
gation of British emissaries, two of whom, Arbuthnot and Am- 
brister, were captured at the destruction of an Indian village. 
They were tried by a court-martial and condemned to death, 
and General Jackson immediately carried the sentence into exe- 
cution. The campaign was speedily terminated ; and General 
Jackson was about marching to Nashville, when he learned that 
the governor of Pensacola had afforded protection to the enemy. 
He marched against and occupied this post with twelve hundred 
United States soldiers ; but being attacked by some of the public 
journals for what they considered a violation of international 
law, he repaired to Washington, to explain more fully his trans- 
actions. He was received in that city, and in Baltimore, Phila- 
delphia, and New York, with the highest honours. 

From July to October 1821, he was engaged, as governor of 
the Floridas, in organizing a territorial government for those 
provinces, which had been ceded to the United States. In 1S24 
he was a candidate for the presidency ; but four competitors 
having been nominated, no one received the number of votes 
necessary to an election. The choice of president devolving on 
the House of Representatives, Mr. Adams was elected. In 
1828, however, General Jackson was elected to the presidency, 
and held that office during eight years — one of the most stormy 
periods of our political history. He retired to the Hermitage, 
on the inauguration of his successor, in 1S37, and enjoyed there 
the sweets of private life until his death, June Sth, 1845, in the 
seventy-ninth year of his age. Death found him in the full pos- 



32 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF JACKSON. 

session of his faculties, and perfectly prepared for his long-ex- 
pected advent. 

It can hardly be expected that the present generation will 
do justice to the character of Jackson. So great was his firm- 
ness and decision of character, so little could the opinions of men 
or the consequences to himself move him from what he thought 
the path of duty, and so ardent was his attachment to his coun- 
try and his friends, that his opponents have ever been most 
bitter enemies, and his friends almost his worshippers. But the 
closing scenes in the drama of his life give a fair illustration of 
his character. On leaving the service of his country in the 
highest station in which she places her most favoured sons, he 
retires far from the pomp and show of the world, and lives in 
true republican simplicity. There he devotes himself still to the 
object ever nearest his heart — his country's good — constantly 
watching over her interests, and often advising his fellow-citizens 
on the subjects he esteemed of the most importance. His letters 
evince the warmest patriotism and the happiest Christian resig- 
nation. And when the last trying scene is at hand, and even 
when he feels the chill hand of death upon him, he forgets not 
his republicanism, his characteristic simplicity. He whom a 
nation delighted to honour, over whose grave they would gladly 
raise a storied monument, must be buried without show or 
parade in an humble tomb beside the remains of his " beloved 
wife." 



EULOGY 



DELIVERED AT WASHINGTON CITY, JUNE 27, 1845, 

BY 

GEORGE BANCROFT, 

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



The men of the American Revolution are no more ! That age 
of creative power has passed away. The last surviving signer of 
the Declaration of Independence has long since left the earth. 
Washington lies near his own Potomac, surrounded by his family 
and his servants. Adams, the Colossus of Independence, reposes in 
the modest grave-yard of his native region. Jefferson sleeps on the 
heights of his own Monticello, whence his eye overlooked his be- 
loved Virginia. Madison, the last survivor of the men who made 
our constitution, lives only in our hearts. But who shall say that 
the heroes, in whom the image of God shone most brightly, do not 
live for ever? They were filled with the vast conceptions which 
called America into being ■ they lived for those conceptions, and 
their deeds praise them. 

We are met to commemorate the virtues of one who shed his 
blood for our independence, took part in winning the territory and 
forming the early institutions of the West, and was imbued with 
all the great ideas which constitute the moral force of our country. 
On the spot where he gave his solemn fealty to the people — here, 
where he pledged himself before the world, to freedom, to the 
constitution, and to the laws — we meet to pay our tribute to the 
memory of the last great name, which gathers round itself all the 
associations that form the glory of America. 

South Carolina gave a birthplace to Andrew Jackson. On its 
remote frontier, far up on the forest-clad banks of the Catawba, in 
a region where the settlers were just beginning to cluster, his eye 
first, saw the light. There his infancy sported in the ancient 
forests, and his mind was nursed to freedom by their influence. 
He was the youngest son of an Irish emigrant of Scottish origin, 
who, two years after the great war of Frederick of Prussia, fled to 
America for relief from indigence and oppression. His birth was 

(33) 



34> MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

in 1767, at a time when the people of our land were but a body 
of dependent colonists, scarcely more than two millions in number, 
scattered along an immense coast, with no army, or navy, or union; 
and exposed to the attempts of England to control America by the 
aid of military force. His boyhood grew up in the midst of the 
contest with Great Britain. The first great political truth that 
reached his heart was, that all men are free and equal ; the first 
great fact that beamed on his understanding was, his country's 
independence. 

The strife, as it increased, came near the shades of his own up- 
land residence. As a boy of thirteen, he witnessed the scenes of 
horror that accompany civil war ; and when but a year older, with 
an elder brother, he shouldered his musket, and went forth to strike 
a blow for his country. 

Joyous era for America and for humanity ! But for him, the 
orphan boy, the events were full of agony and grief. His father 
was no more. His oldest brother fell a victim to the war of the 
Revolution ; another (his companion in arms) died of wounds re- 
ceived in their joint captivity: his mother went down to the grave 
a victim to grief and efforts to rescue her sons ; and when peace 
came, he was alone in the world, with no kindred to cherish him, 
and little inheritance but his own untried powers. 

The nation which emancipated itself from_British rule organizes 
itself; the confederation gives way to the constitution; the per- 
fecting of that constitution — that grand event of the thousand 
years of modern history — is accomplished ! America exists as a 
people, gains unity as a government, and takes its place as a nation 
among the powers of the earth. 

The next great office to be performed by America is the taking 
possession of the wilderness. The magnificent western valley cried 
out to the civilization of popular power, that it must be occupied 
by cultivated man. 

Behold, then, our orphan hero, sternly earnest, consecrated to 
humanity from childhood by sorrow, having neither father, nor 
mother, nor sister, nor surviving brother ; so young, and yet so 
solitary, and therefore bound the more closely to collective man — 
behold him elect for his lot, to go forth and assist in laying the 
foundations of society in the great valley of the Mississippi. 

At the very time when Washington was pledging his own and 
future generations to the support of the popular institutions which 
were to be the light of the human race — at the time when the 
institutions of the Old World were rocking to their centre, and the 
mighty fabric that had come down from the middle ages was falling 
in — the adventurous Jackson, in the radiant glory and boundless 
hope and confident intrepidity of twenty-one, plunged into the 
wilderness, crossed the great mountain-barrier that divides the 



Bancroft's eulogy. 35 

western waters from the Atlantic, followed the paths of the early 
hunters and fugitives, and, not content with the nearer neighbour- 
hood to his parent state, went still further and further to the west, 
4ill he found his home in the most beautiful region on the Cumber- 
land. There, from the first, he was recognised as the great pio- 
neer ; under his courage, the coming emigrants were sure to find a 
shield. 

The lovers of adventure began to pour themselves into the terri- 
tory, whose delicious climate and fertile soil invited the presence 
of social man. The hunter, with his rifle and his axe, attended by 
his wife and children ; the herdsman, driving the few cattle that 
were to multiply as they browsed ; the cultivator of the soil — all 
came to the inviting region. Wherever the bending mountains 
opened a pass ; wherever the buffaloes and the beasts of the forest 
had made a trace, these sons of nature, children of humanity, in 
the highest sentiment of personal freedom, came to occupy the 
beautiful wilderness whose prairies blossomed everywhere pro- 
fusely with wild flowers ; whose woods in spring put to shame, by 
their magnificence, the cultivated gardens of man. 

And now that these unlettered fugitives, educated only by the 
spirit of freedom, destitute of dead letter erudition, but sharing the 
living ideas of the age, had made their homes in the west — what would 
follow ? Would they degrade themselves to ignorance and infide- 
lity ? Would they make the solitudes of the desert excuses for 
licentiousness? Would the doctrines of freedom lead them to live 
in unorganized society, destitute of laws and fixed institutions? 

At a time when European society was becoming broken in 
pieces, scattered, disunited, and resolved into its elements, a scene 
ensued in Tennessee, than which nothing more beautifully grand is 
recorded in the annals of the race. 

These adventurers in the wilderness longed to come together in 
organized society. The overshadowing genius of their time in- 
spired them with good designs, and filled them with the counsels 
of wisdom. Dwellers in the forest, freest of the free, bound in the 
spirit, they came up by their representatives, on foot, on horseback, 
through the forest, along the streams, by the buffalo traces, by the 
Indian paths, by the blazed forest avenues, to meet in convention 
among the mountains at Knoxville, and frame for themselves a con- 
stitution. Andrew Jackson was there, the greatest man of them 
all — modest, bold, determined, demanding nothing for himself, and 
shrinking from nothing that his heart approved. 

The convention came together on the 11th day of January, 179G, 
and finished its work on the 6th day of February. How had the 
wisdom of the Old World vainly tasked itself to frame constitutions, 
that could, at least, be the subject of experiment ! the men of Ten- 
nessee, in less than twenty-five days, perfected a fabric, which, in 



36 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

its essential forms, was to last for ever. They came together full 
of faith and reverence, of love to humanity, of confidence in truth. 
In the simplicity of wisdom, they framed their constitution, acting 
under higher influences than they were conscious of — 

They wrought in sad sincerity, 
Themselves from God they could not free ; 
They builded better than they knew ; 
The conscious stones to beauty grew. 

In the instrument which they framed, they embodied their faith 
in God, in the immortal nature of man. They gave the right of 
suffrage to every freeman ; they vindicated the sanctity of reason, 
by giving freedom of speech and of the press ; they reverenced the 
voice of God, as it speaks in the soul of man, by asserting the in- 
defeasible right of man to worship the Infinite according to his 
conscience ; they established the freedom and equality of elections ; 
and they demanded from every future legislator a solemn oath 
" never to consent to any act or thing whatever, that shall have 
even a tendency to lessen the rights of the people.'' 

These majestic lawgivers, wiser than the Solons, and Lycur- 
guses, and Numas of the Old World — these prophetic founders of a 
state, who embodied in their constitution the sublimest truths of 
humanity, acted without reference to human praises. 

They kept no special record of their doings ; they took no pains 
to vaunt their deeds ; and when their work was done, knew not 
that they had finished one of the sublimest acts ever performed 
among men. They left no record, as to whose agency was con- 
spicuous, whose eloquence swayed, whose generous will predomi- 
nated ; nor should we know, but for tradition, confirmed by what 
followed among themselves. 

The men of Tennessee were now a people, and they were to send 
forth a man to stand for them in the Congress of the United States — 
that avenue to glory — that home of eloquence — the citadel of popu- 
lar power ; and, with one consent, they united in selecting the 
foremost man among; their lawgivers — Andrew Jackson. 

DO 

The love of the people of Tennessee followed him to the 
American Congress, and he had served but a single term, when 
the state of Tennessee made him one of its representatives in the 
American Senate, where he sat under the auspices of Jefferson. 

Thus, when he was scarcely more than thirty, he had guided 
the settlement of the wilderness; swayed the deliberation of a 
people in establishing its fundamental laws; acted as the represen- 
tative of that people, and again as the representative of his organ- 
ized state, disciplined to a knowledge of the power of the people, 
and the power of the states ; the associate of republican statesmen, 
the friend and companion of Jefferson. 

The men who framed the constitution of the United States, many 



Bancroft's eulogy. 37 

of them, did not know of the innate life and self-preserving energy 
of their work. They feared that freedom could not endure, and 
they planned a strong government for its protection. 

During his short career in Congress, Jackson showed his quiet, 
deeply seated, innate, intuitive faith in human freedom, and in the 
institutions of freedom. He was ever, by his votes and opinions, 
found among those who had confidence in humanity : and in the 
great division of minds, this child of the woodlands, this representa- 
tive of forest life in the west, was found modestly and firmly on the 
side of freedom. It did not occur to him to doubt the right of man 
to the free developement of his powers ; it did not occur to him to 
seek to give durability to popular institutions, by giving to govern- 
ment a strength independent of popular will. 

From the first, he was attached to the fundamental doctrines of 
popular power, and of the policy that favours it ; and though his 
reverence for Washington surpassed his reverence for any human 
being, he voted against the address from the House of Representa- 
tives to Washington on his retirement, because its language appeared 
to sanction the financial policy which he believed hostile to repub- 
lican freedom. 

During his period of service in the Senate, Jackson was elected 
major-general by the brigadiers and field officers of the militia of 
Tennessee. Resigning his place in the Senate, he was made judge 
of the supreme court in law and equity ; such was the confidence 
in his integrity of purpose, his clearness of judgment, and his vigour 
of will to deal justly among the turbulent who crowded into the 
new settlements of Tennessee. 

Thus, in the short period of nine years, Andrew Jackson was 
signalized by as many evidences of public esteem as could fall to 
the lot of man. The pioneer of the wilderness, the defender of its 
stations, he was their lawgiver, the sole representative of a new 
people in Congress, the representative of the state in the Senate, 
the highest in military command, the highest in judicial office. 
He seemed to be recognised as their first love of liberty, the first in 
the science of legislation, in judgment, and integrity. 

Fond of private life, he would have resigned the judicial office ; 
but the whole country demanded his service. "Nature," they 
cried, "never designed that your powers of thought and indepen- 
dence of mind should be lost in retirement." But after a few 
years, relieving himself from the cares of the bench, he gave hijn- 
self to the activity and the independent life of a husbandman. He 
carried into retirement the fame of natural intelligence, and was 
cherished as " a prompt, frank, and ardent soul." His vigour of 
character constituted him first among all with whom he associated. 
A private man as he was, His name was familiarly spoken round 
every hearth-stone^/in Tennessee. Men loved to discuss his quali- 
4 



33 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

ties. All discerned his power; and when the vehemence and 
impetuosity of his nature were observed upon, there were not 
wanting those who saw, beneath the blazing tires of his genius, the 
solidity of his judgment. 

His hospitable roof sheltered the emigrant and the pioneer ; and, 
as they made their way to their new homes, they filled the moun- 
tain-sides and the valleys with his praise. 

Connecting himself, for a season, with a man of business, Jackson 
soon discerned the misconduct of his associate. Jt marked his cha- 
racter, that he insisted, himself, on paying every obligation that 
had been contracted ; and rather than endure the vassalage of debt, 
he instantly parted with the rich domain which his early enter- 
prise had acquired — with his own mansion — with his fields which 
he himself had first tamed to the ploughshare — with the forest 
whose trees were as familiar to him as his friends — and chose rather 
to dwell, for a time, in a rude log-cabin, in the pride of indepen- 
dence and integrity. 

On all great occasions, Jackson's influence- was deferred to. 
When Jefferson had acquired for the country the whole of Louisi- 
ana, and there seemed some hesitancy, on the part of Spain, to 
acknowledge our possession, the services of Jackson were solicited 
by the national administration, and were not called into full exer- 
cise, only from the peaceful termination of the incidents that occa- 
sioned the summons. 

In the long series of aggressions on the freedom of the seas, and 
the rights of the American flag, Jackson was- on the side of his 
country, and the new maritime code of republicanism. In his 
inland home, where the roar of the breakers was never heard, and 
the mariner was never seen, he resented the continued aggression 
on our commerce and on our sailors. 

When the continuance of wrong compelled the nation to resort 
to arms, Jackson, led by the instinctive knowledge of his own 
o-reatness, yet with a modesty that would have honoured the most 
sensitive delicacy of nature, confessed his willingness to he em- 
ployed on the Canada frontier ; and it is a fact, that he aspired to 
the command to which Winchester was appointed. We may ask, 
what would have been the result, if the command of the north- 
western army had, at the opening of the war, been intrusted to a 
man who, in action, was ever so fortunate, that his vehement will 
seemed to have made destiny capitulate to his designs? 

The path of duty led him in another direction. On the declara- 
tion of war, twenty-five hundred volunteers had risen at his word 
to follow his standard; but by countermanding orders from the seat 
of government, the movement was without effect. 

A new and great danger hung over the West. The Indian 
tribes were to make one last effort to restore it\ to its solitude, and 



Bancroft's eulogy. 39 

recover it for savage life. The brave, relentless Shawnees — who, 
from time immemorial, had strolled from the waters of the Ohio to 
the rivers of Alabama — were animated by Tecumseh and his brother 
the Prophet, who spoke to them as with the voice of the Great 
Spirit, and aroused the Creek nation to desperate massacres. Who 
has not heard of their terrible deeds, when their ruthless cruelty 
spared neither sex nor age ? when the infant and its mother, the 
planter and his family, who had fled for refuge to the fortress, the 
garrison that capitulated — all were slain, and not a vestige of de- 
fence was left in the country 1 The cry of the West demanded 
Jackson for its defender ; and though his arm was then fractured 
by a ball, and hung in a sling, he placed himself at the head of the 
volunteers of Tennessee, and resolved to terminate for ever the here- 
ditary struggle. 

Who can tell the horrors of that campaign ? Who can paint 
rightly the obstacle^ which Jackson overcame — mountains, the 
scarcity of untenanted forests; winter, the failure of supplies from 
the settlements, the insubordination of troops, mutiny, menaces of 
desertion 1 Who can measure the wonderful power over men, by 
which his personal prowess and attractive energy drew them in 
midwinter from their homes, across mountains and morasses, and 
through trackless deserts 1 Who can describe the personal heroism 
of Jackson, never sparing himself, beyond any of his men encoun- 
tering toil and fatigue, snaring every labour of the camp and of 
4 he march, foremost in every danger; giving up his horse to the 
invalid soldier, while he himself waded through the swamps on 
foot ? None equalled him in power of endurance ; and the private 
soldiers, as they found him passing them on the march, exclaimed, 
" He is as tough as hickory." " Yes," they cried to one another, 
" there goes Old Hickory !" 

Who cannot narrate the terrible events of the double battles of 
Emuckfaw, or the glorious victory of Tohopeka, where the anger 
of the general against the faltering was more appalling than the 
war-whoop and rifle of the savage 1 Who can rightly conceive 
the field of Etiotochopoo, where the general, as he attempted to 
draw the sword to cut down a flying colonel who was leading a 
regiment from the field, broke again the arm which was but newly 
knit together ; and quietly replacing it in the sling, with his com- 
manding voice arrested the flight of the troops, and himself led 
them back to victory! 

In six short months of vehement action, the most terrible Indian 
war in our annals was brought to a close ; the prophets were 
silenced; the consecrated region of the Creek nation reduced. 
Through scenes of blood, the avenging hero sought only the path 
to peace. Thus Alabama, a part of Mississippi, a part of his own 



40 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Tennessee, and the highwa}' to the Floridas, were his gifts to the 
Union. These were his trophies. 

Genius as extraordinary as military events can call forth, was 
summoned into action in this rapid, efficient, and most fortunately 
conducted war. 

Time would fail were I to track our hero down the watercourses 
of Alabama to the neighbourhood of Pensacola. How he longed 
to plant the eagle of his country on its battlements! 

Time would fail, and words be wanting, were I to dwell on the 
magical influence of his appearance in New Orleans. His presence 
dissipated gloom and dispelled alarm ; at once he changed the 
aspect of despair into a confidence of security and a hope of ac- 
quiring glory. Every man knows the tale of the heroic, sudden, 
and yet deliberate daring which led him, on the night of the 23d 
of December, to precipitate his little army on his foes, in the thick 
darkness, before they grew familiar with their encampment, scat- 
tering dismay through veteran regiments of England, and defeating 
them, and arresting their progress by a far inferior force. 

Who shall recount the counsels of prudence, the kindling words 
of eloquence that gushed from his lips to cheer his soldiers — his 
skirmishes and battles, till that eventful morning when the day at 
Bunker's Hill had its fulfilment in the glorious battle of New Or- 
leans, and American independence stood before the world in the 
majesty of victorious power. 

These were great deeds for the nation ; for himself he did a greater. 
Had not Jackson been renowned for the vehement impetuosity of 
his passions, for his defiance of others' authority, and the unbend- 
ing vigour of his self-will ? Behold the saviour of Louisiana, all 
garlanded with victory, viewing around him the city he had pre- 
served, the maidens and children whom his heroism had protected, 
stand in the presence of a petty judge, who gratifies his wounded 
vanity by an abuse of his judicial power. Every breast in the 
crowded audience heaves with indignation. He, the passionate, 
the impetuous — he whose power was to be humbled, whose honour 
questioned, whose laurels tarnished, alone stood, sublimely serene ; 
and when the craven judge trembled and faltered, and dared not 
proceed, himself, the arraigned one, bade him take courage, and 
stood by the law even in the moment when the law was made the 
instrument of insult and wrong on himself — at the moment of his 
most perfect claim to the highest civic honours. 

His country, when it grew to hold many more millions, the 
generation that then was coming in, has risen up to do homage to 
the noble heroism of that hour. Woman, whose feeling is always 
right, did honour from the first to the purity of his heroism. The 
people of Louisiana, to the latest hour, will cherish his name as 
their greatest benefactor. 



BANCROFT^ EULOGY. 41 

The culture of Jackson's mind had been much promoted by his 
services and associations in the war. His discipline of himself, as 
the chief in command ; his intimate relations with men like Liv- 
ingston; the wonderful deeds in which he bore a part ; all matured 
his judgment and mellowed his character. 

Peace came with its delights ; once more the country rushed 
forward in the developement of its powers ; once more the arts of 
industry healed the wounds that war had inflicted 3 and, from com- 
merce and agriculture and manufactures, wealth gushed abundantly 
under the free activity of unrestrained enterprise. 

And Jackson returned to his own fields and his own pursuits, to 
cherish his plantation, to care for his servants, to look after his 
stud, to enjoy the affection of the most kind and devoted wife, 
whom he respected with the gentlest deference, and loved with an 
almost miraculous tenderness. 

And there he stood, like one of the mightiest forest trees of his 
own West, vigorous and colossal, sending its summit to the skies, 
and growing on its native soil in wild and inimitable magnificence, 
careless of beholders. From all parts of the country he received 
appeals to his political ambition, and the severe modesty of his 
well-balanced mind turned them all aside. He was happy in his 
farm, happy in seclusion, happy in his family, happy within him- 
self. 

But the passions of the southern Indians were not allayed by the 
peace with Great Britain : and foreign emissaries were still among 
them, to inflame and direct their malignity. Jackson was called 
forth by his country to restrain the cruelty of the treacherous and 
unsparing Seminoles. It was in the train of the events of this war 
that he placed the American eagle on St. Marks, and above the 
ancient towers of St. Augustine. His deeds in that war, of them- 
selves, form a monument to human power, to the celerity of his 
genius, to the creative fertility of his resources, his intuitive saga- 
city. As Spain, in his judgment, had committed aggression, he 
would have emancipated her islands ; of the Havana, he caused the 
reconnoissance to be made ; and, with an army of five thousand 
men, he stood ready to guaranty her redemption from colonial 
thraldom. 

But when peace was restored, and his office was accomplished, 
his physical strength sunk under the pestilential influence of the 
climate, and, fast yielding to disease, he was borne in a litter across 
the swamps of Florida, towards his home. It was Jackson's cha- 
racter that he never solicited aid from any one : but he never for- 
got those who rendered him service in the hour of need. At a 
time when all around him believed him near his end, his wife 
hastened to his side, and, by her tenderness and nursing care, her 
4* 



42 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

patient assiduity, and the soothing influence of devoted love, with- 
held him from the grave. 

He would have remained quietly at his home in repose, but that 
he was privately informed his good name was to be attainted by 
some intended congressional proceedings. He came, therefore, into 
the presence of the people's representatives at Washington, only to 
vindicate his name ; and when that was achieved, he was once 
more communing with his own thoughts among the groves of the 
Hermitage. 

It was not his own ambition which brought him again to the 
public view. The affection of Tennessee compelled him to resume 
a seat on the floor of the American Senate, and, after years of the 
intensest political strife, Andrew Jackson was elected President of 
the United States. 

Far from advancing his own pretensions, he always kept them 
back, and had for years repressed the solicitations of his friends to 
become a candidate. He felt sensibly that he was devoid of scien- 
tific culture, and little familiar with letters; and he never obtruded 
his opinions, or preferred claims to place. But, whenever his 
opinion was demanded, he was always ready to pronounce it ; and 
whenever his country invoked his services, he did not shrink even 
from the station which had been filled by the most cultivated men 
our nation had produced. 

Behold, then, the unlettered man of the West, the nursling of 
the wilds, the farmer of the Hermitage, little versed in books, un- 
connected by science with the tradition of the past, raised by the 
will of the people to the highest pinnacle of honour, to the central 
post in the civilization of republican freedom, to the station where 
all the nations of the earth would watch his actions — where his 
words would vibrate through the civilized world, and his spirit be 
the moving-star to guide the nations. What policy will he pur- 
sue. ? What wisdom will he bring with him from the forest? 
What rules of duty will he evolve from the oracles of his own 
mind? 

The man of the West came as the inspired prophet of the West : 
he came as one free from the bonds of hereditary or established 
custom ; he came with no superior but conscience, no oracle but 
his native judgment : and. true to his origin and his education — 
true to the conditions and circumstances of his advancement, he 
valued right more than usage ; he reverted from the pressure of 
established interests to the energy of first principles. 

We tread on ashes, where the fire is not vet extinguished: vet 
not to dwell on his career as president, were to leave out of view 
the grandest illustrations of his magnanimity. 

The legislation of the Unitt d States had followed the precedents 
of the legislation of European monarchies ; it was the office of 



Bancroft's eulogy. 43 

Jackson to lift the country out of the European forms of legisla- 
tion, and to open to it a career resting on American sentiment and 
American freedom. He would have freedom everywhere — free- 
dom under the restraints of right ; freedom of industry, of com- 
merce, of mind ; of universal action ;. freedom, unshackled by re- 
strictive privileges, unrestrained by the thraldom of monopolies. 

The unity of his mind and his consistency were without a paral- 
lel. With natural dialectics, he developed the political doctrines 
that suited every emergency, with a precision and a harmony that 
no theorist could hope to equal. On every subject in politics — I 
speak but a fact — he was thoroughly and profoundly and immovea- 
bly radical ; and would sit for hours, and in a continued flow of 
remark make the application of his principles to every question 
that could arise in legislation, or in the interpretation of the con- 
stitution. 

His expression of himself was so clear, that his influence per- 
vaded not our land only, but all America and all mankind. They 
say that, in the physical world, the magnetic fluid is so diffused, 
that its vibrations are discernible simultaneously in every part of 
the globe. So it is with the element of freedom. And as Jackson 
developed its doctrines from their source in the mind of humanity, 
the popular sympathy was moved and agitated throughout the 
world, till his name grew everywhere to be the symbol of popular 
power. 

Himself the witness of the ruthlessness of savage life, he planned 
the removal of the Indian tribes beyond the limits of the organized 
states ; and it is the result of his determined policy that the region 
east of the Mississippi has been transferred to the exclusive posses- 
sion of cultivated man. 

A pupil of the wilderness, his heart was with the pioneers of 
American life towards the setting sun. No American statesman 
has ever embraced within his affections a scheme so liberal for the 
emigrants as that of Jackson. He longed to secure to them, not 
pre-emption rights only, but more than pre-emption rights. He 
longed to invite labour to take possession of the unoccupied fields 
without money and without price ; with no obligation except the 
pprpetual devotion of itself by allegiance to its country. Under 
the beneficent influence of his opinions, the sons of misfortune, the 
children of adventure, find their way to the uncultivated West. 
There, in some wilderness glade, or in the thick forest of the fertile 
plain, or where the prairies most sparkle with flowers, they, like 
the wild bee which sets them the example of industry, may choose 
their home, mark the extent of their possessions by driving stakes 
or blazing trees, shelter their log-cabin with the boughs and turf, 
and teach the virgin soil to yield itself to the ploughshare. Theirs 
shall be the soil, tlvirs the beautiful farms which they teach to be 



44 MONUMENT TO .TACKSOX. 

productive. Come, children of sorrow ! you on whom the Old 
World frowns ; crowd fearlessly to the forests ; plant your homes 
in confidence, for the country watches over you : your children 
grow around you as hostages, and the wilderness, at your bidding, 
surrenders its grandeur of useless luxuriance to the beauty and love- 
liness of culture. Yet, beautiful and lovely as is this scene, it still 
by far falls short of the ideal which lived in the affections of Jack- 
son. His heart was ever with the pioneer ; his policy ever favoured 
the diffusion of independent freeholds throughout the labouring 
classes of our land. 

It would be a sin against the occasion, were I to omit to com- 
memorate the deep devotedness of Jackson to the cause and to the 
rights of labour. It was for the welfare of the labouring; classes 
that he defied all the storms of political hostility. He longed to 
secure to labour the fruits of its own industry ; and he unceasingly 
opposed every system which tended to lessen their reward, or 
which exposed them to be defrauded of their dues. The labourers 
may bend over his grave with affectionate sorrow ; for never, in 
the tide of time, did a statesman exist more heartily resolved to 
protect them in their rights, and to advance their happiness. For 
their benefit, he opposed partial legislation ; for their benefit, he 
resisted all artificial methods of controlling labour, and subjecting 
it to capital. It was for their benefit that he loved freedom in all 
its forms — freedom of the individual in personal independence, 
freedom of the states as separate sovereignties. He never would 
listen to counsels which tended to the centralization of power. 
The true American system presupposes the diffusion of freedom — 
organized life in all the parts of the American body politic, as there 
is organized life in every part of the human system. Jackson was 
deaf to every counsel which sought to subject general labour to a 
central will. His vindication of the just principles of the constitu- 
tion derived its sublimity from his deep conviction that this strict 
construction is required by the lasting welfare of the great labour- 
ing classes of the United States. 

To this end, Jackson revived the tribunicial power of the veto, 
and exerted it against the decisive action of both branches of Con- 
gress, against the votes, the wishes, the entreaties of personal and 
political friends. "Show me," was his reply to them, " show me 
an express clause in the constitution authorizing Congress to take 
the business of state legislatures out of their hands." " You will 
ruin us all," cried a firm partisan friend, " you will ruin your party 
and your own prospects.'' "Providence," answered Jackson, 
" will take care of me ;" and he persevered. 

In proceeding to discharge the debt of the United States — a mea- 
sure thoroughly American — Jackson followed the example of his 
predecessors ; but he followed it with the full consciousness that 



Bancroft's eulogy. 45 

he was rescuing the country from the artificial system of finance 
which had prevailed throughout the world ; and with him it formed 
a part of a system by which American legislation was to separate 
itself more and more effectually from European precedents, and de- 
velope itself more and more, according to the vital principles of our 
political existence. 

The discharge of the debt brought with it, of necessity, a great 
reduction of the public burdens, and brought, of necessity, into 
view, the question, how far America should follow, of choice, the 
old restrictive system of high duties, under which Europe had op- 
pressed America ; or how far she should rely on her own freedom 
and enterprise and power, defying the competition, and seeking 
the markets, and receiving the products of the world. 

The mind of Jackson, on this subject, reasoned clearly, and with- 
out passion. In the abuses of the system of revenue by excessive 
imposts, he saw evils which the public mind would remedy; and, 
inclining with the whole might of his energetic nature to the side 
of revenue duties, he made his earnest but tranquil appeal to the 
judgment of the people. 

The portions of country that suffered most severely from a sys- 
tem of legislation, which, in its extreme character as it then existed, 
is now universally acknowledged to have been unequal and unjust, 
were less tranquil ; and rallying on the doctrines of freedom, which 
made our government a limited one, they saw in the oppressive acts 
an assumption of power which was nugatory, because it was exer- 
cised, as they held, without authority from the people. 

The contest that ensued was the most momentous in our annals. 
The greatest minds of America engaged in the discussion. Elo- 
quence never achieved sublimer triumphs in the American Senate, 
than on those occasions. The country became deeply divided; 
and the antagonist elements were arrayed against each other under 
forms of clashing authority, menacing civil war ; the freedom of 
the several states was invoked against the power of the United 
States ; and under the organization of a state in convention, the 
reserved rights of the people were summoned to display their 
energy, and balance the authority and neutralize the legislation of 
the central government. The states were agitated with prolonged 
excitement ; the friends of freedom throughout the world looked on 
with divided sympathies, praying that the union of the states might 
be perpetual, and also that the commerce of the world might be 
free. 

Fortunately for the country, and fortunately for mankind, An- 
drew Jackson was at the helm of state, the representative of the 
principles that were to allay excitement, and to restore the hopes 
of peace and freedom. By nature, by impulse, by education, by 
conviction, a friend to personal freedom — by education, political 



46 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

sympathies, and the fixed habit of his mind, a friend to the rights 
of the states — unwilling that the liberty of the states should be 
trampled under foot — unwilling that the constitution should lose its 
vigour or be impaired, he rallied for the constitution : and in its 
name he published to the world, "The Union: it must ee pre- 
served." The words were a spell to hush evil passion, and to re- 
move oppression. Under his guiding influence, the favoured inter- 
ests, which had struggled to perpetuate unjust legislation, yielded 
to the voice of moderation and reform ; and every mind that had 
for a moment contemplated a rupture of the states, discarded it for 
ever. The whole influence of the past was invoked in favour of 
the constitution ; from the council chambers of the fathers who 
moulded our institutions — from the hall where American indepen- 
dence was declared, the clear, loud cry was uttered — " The Union : 
it must be preserved." From every battle-field of the Revolution 
— from Lexington and Bunker-Hill — from Saratoga and Yorktown 
— from the fields of Eutaw — from the cane-brakes that sheltered the 
men of Marion — the repeated, long-prolonged echoes came up — 
"The Union: it must be preserved." From every valley in our 
land — from every cabin on the pleasant mountain sides — from the 
ships at our wharves — from the tents of the hunter in our western- 
most prairies — from the living minds of the living millions of Ame- 
rican freemen — from the thickly coming glories of futurity — the 
shout went up like the sound of many waters, " The Union : it 
must be preserved." The friends of the protective system, and 
they who had denounced the protective system — the statesmen of 
the north, that had wounded the constitution in their love of cen- 
tralism — the statesmen of the south, whose minds had carried to its 
extreme the theory of state rights — all conspired together; all 
breathed prayers for the perpetuity of the Union. Under the pru- 
dent firmness of Jackson — under the mixture of justice and general 
regard for all interests, the greatest danger to our institutions was 
turned aside, and mankind was encouraged to believe that our 
Union, like our freedom, is imperishable. 

The moral of the great events of those days is this : that the peo- 
ple can discern right, and will make their way to a knowledge of 
right ; that the whole human mind, and therefore with it the mind 
of the nation, has a continuous, ever improving existence ; that the 
appeal from the unjust legislation of to-day must be made quietly, 
earnestly, perseveringly, to the more enlightened collective reason 
of to-morrow ; that submission is due to the popular will, in the 
confidence that the people, when in error, will amend their doings ; 
that in a popular government, injustice is neither to be established 
by force, nor to be resisted by force ; in a word, that the Union, 
which was constituted by consent, must be preserved by love. 



Bancroft's eulogy. 47 

It rarely falls to the happy lot of a statesman to receive such 
unanimous applause from the heart of a nation. Duty to the dead 
demands that, on this occasion, the course of measures should not 
pass unnoticed, in the progress of which, his vigour of character 
most clearly appeared, and his conflict with opposing parties was 
most violent and protracted. 

From his home in Tennessee, Jackson came to the presidency 
resolved to lift American legislation out of the forms of English 
legislation, and to place our laws on the currency in harmony with 
the principles of our government. He came to the presidency of 
the United States resolved to deliver the government from the 
Bank of the United States, and to restore the regulation of ex- 
changes to the rightful depository of that power — the commerce of 
the country. He had designed to declare his views on this subject 
in his inaugural address, but was persuaded to relinquish that pur- 
pose, on the ground that it belonged rather to a legislative message. 
When the period for addressing Congress drew near, it was still 
urged that to attack the bank would forfeit his popularity and secure 
his future defeat. " It is not," he answered, " it is not for m} r self 
that I care." It was urged that haste was unnecessary, as the bank 
had still six unexpended years of chartered existence. " I may 
die," he replied, " before another Congress comes together, and I 
could not rest quietly in my grave, if I failed to do what I hold so 
essential to the liberty of my country." And his first annual mes- 
sage announced to the country that the bank was neither constitu- 
tional nor expedient. In this he was in advance of the friends 
about him, in advance of Congress, and in advance of his party. 
This is no time for the analysis of measures, or the discussion of 
questions of political economy : on the present occasion, we have 
to contemplate the character of the man. 

Never, from the first moment of his administration to the last, 
was there a calm in the strife of parties on the subject of the cur- 
rency ; and never, during the whole period, did he recede or falter. 
Always in advance of his party — always having near him friends 
who cowered before the hardihood of his courage, he himself, 
throughout all the contest, was unmoved, from the first suggestion 
of the unconstitutionalit}' of the bank, to the moment when he him- 
self, first of all, reasoning from the certain tendency of its policy, 
with singular sagacity predicted to unbelieving friends, the coming 
insolvency of the institution. 

The storm throughout the country rose with unexampled vehe- 
mence : his opponents were not satisfied with addressing the public 
or Congress, or his cabinet ; they threw their whole force person- 
al^ on him. From all parts men pressed around him, urging him, 
entreating him to bend. Congress was flexible ; many of his per- 
sonal friends faltered ; the impetuous swelling wave rolled on, with- 



r 

48 MO.M'MEXT TO JACttSCW. 

out one sufficient obstacle, till it reached his presence ; but, as it 
dashed in its highest fury at his feet, it broke before his firmness. 
The commanding majesty of his will appalled his opponents and 
revived his friends. He, himself, had a proud consciousness that 
his will was indomitable. Standing over the rocks of the Rip 
Raps, and looking out upon the ocean, " Providence," said he to a 
friend, " Providence may change my determination ; but man no 
more can do it, than he can remove these Rip Raps, which have 
resisted the rolling; ocean from the beginning of time." And though 
a panic was spreading through the land, and the whole credit sys- 
tem, as it then existed, was crumbling to pieces and crashing around 
him, he stood erect, like a massive column, which the heaps of 
falling ruins could not break, nor bend, nor sway from its fixed 
foundation. 

[At this point Mr. Bancroft turned to address the Mayor of the 
city of Washington ; but, finding him not present, he proceeded.] 

People of the District of Columbia, — I should fail of a duty on 
this occasion, if I did not give utterance to your sentiment of grati- 
tude which followed General" Jackson into retirement. Dwelling 
amongst you, he desired your prosperity. This beautiful city, sur- 
rounded by heights the most attractive, watered by a river so mag- 
nificent, the home of the gentle and the cultivated, not less than 
the seat of political power — this city, whose site Washington had 
selected, was dear to his affections ; and if he won your grateful 
attachment by adorning it with monuments of useful architecture, 
by establishing its credit, and relieving its burdens, he regretted 
only that he had not the opportunity to have connected himself 
still more intimately with your prosperity. 

As he prepared to take his final leave of the district, the mass of 
the population of this city, and the masses that had gathered from 
around, followed his carriage in crowds. All in silence stood near 
him, to wish him adieu ; and as the cars started, and he displayed 
his gray hairs, as he lifted his hat in token of farewell, you stood 
around with heads uncovered, too full of emotion to speak, in 
solemn silence gazing on him as he departed, never more to be seen 
in your midst. 

Behold the warrior and statesman, his work well done, retired to 
the Hermitage, to hold converse with his forests, to cultivate his 
farm, to gather around him hospitably his friends! Who was like 
him ? He was still the loadstar of the American people. His 
fervid thoughts, frankly uttered, still spread the flame of patriotism 
through the American breast ; his counsels were still listened to 
with reverence; and, almost alone among statesmen, he in his re- 
tirement was in harmony with every onward movement of his 
time. His prevailing influence assisted to sway a neighbouring 
nation to desire to share our institutions, his ear heard the footsteps 



danckoft's eulogy. 49 

of the coming millions that are to gladden our western shores ; and 
his eye discerned in the dim distance the whitening sails that are 
to enliven the waters of the Pacific with the social sounds of our 
successful commerce. 

Age had whitened his locks, and dimmed his eye, and spread 
around him the infirmities and venerable emblems of many years 
of toilsome service ; but his heart beat as warmly as in his youth, 
and his courage was as firm as it had ever been in the day of battle. 
f$ut while his affections were still for his friends and his country, 
his thoughts were already in a better world. That exalted mind, 
which in active life had always had unity of perception and will, 
which in action had never faltered from doubt, and which in coun- 
cil had always reverted to first principles and general laws, now 
gave itself up to communing with the Infinite. He was a believer : 
from feeling, from experience, from conviction. Not a shadow of 
scepticism ever dimmed the lustre of his mind. Proud philosopher ! 
will you smile to know that Andrew Jackson perused reverently 
his Psalter and Prayer-book and Bible ? Know that Andrew Jack- 
son had faith in the eternity of truth, in the imperishable power of 
popular freedom, in the destinies of humanity, in the virtues and 
capacity of the people, in his country's institutions, in the being 
and overruling providence of a merciful and ever-living God. 

The last moment of his life on earth is at hand. It is the Sab- 
bath of the Lord : the brightness and beauty of summer clothe the 
fields around him : nature is in her glory ; but the sublimest specta- 
cle on that day, on earth, was the victory of his unblenching spirit 
over death itself. 

When he first felt the hand of death upon him, " May my 
enemies," he cried, " find peace ; may the liberties of my country 
endure for ever !" 

When his exhausted system, under the excess of pain, sunk, for 
a moment, from debility, "Do not weep," said he to his adopted 
daughter ; " my sufferings are less than those of Christ upon the 
cross ;" for he, too, as a disciple of the cross, could have devoted 
himself, in sorrow, for mankind. Feeling his end near, he would 
see all his family once more ; and he spoke to them, one by. one, 
in words of tenderness and affection. His two little grandchildren 
were absent at Sunday-school. He asked for them ; and as they 
came, he prayed for them, and kissed them, and blessed them. 
His servants were then admitted : they gathered, some in his room, 
and some on the outside of the house, clinging to the windows, that 
they might gaze and hear. And that dying man, thus surrounded, 
in a gush of fervid eloquence, spoke with inspiration of God, of the 
Redeemer, of salvation through the atonement, of immortality, of 
heaven. For he ever thought that pure and undefiled religion was 
the foundation of private happiness, and the bulwark of republican 
5 



50 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

institutions. Having spoken of immortality in perfect conscious 
ness of his own approaching end, he bade them all farewell. 
" Dear children," such were his final words, " dear children, ser- 
vants and friends, I trust to meet you all in heaven, both white and 
black — all, both white and black." And having borne his testi- 
mony to immortality, he bowed his mighty head, and, without a 
groan, the spirit of the greatest man of his age escaped to the bosom 
of his God. 

In life, his career had been like the blaze of the sun in the fierce- 
ness of its noon-day glory ; his death was lovely as the mildest 
sunset of a summer's evening, when the sun goes down in tranquil 
beauty without a cloud. To the majestic energy of an indomitable 
will, he joined a heart capable of the purest and most devoted love, 
rich in the tenderest affections. On the bloody battle-field of To- 
hopeka, he saved an infant that clung to the breast of its dying 
mother : in the stormiest moment of his presidency, at the immi- 
nent moment of decision, he paused in his way to give good coun- 
sel to a poor suppliant that had come up to him for succour. Of the 
.strifes in which he was engaged in his earlier life, not one sprung 
from himself, but in every case he became involved by standing 
forth as the champion of the weak, the poor, and the defenceless, 
to shelter the gentle against oppression, to protect the emigrant 
against the avarice of the speculator. His generous soul revolted 
at the barbarous practice of duels, and by no man in the land have 
so many been prevented. 

The sorrows of those that were near to him went deeply into his 
soul : and at the anguish of the wife whom he loved, the orphans 
whom he adopted, he would melt into tears, and weep and sob like 
a child. 

No man in private life so possessed the hearts of all around him: 
no public man of this century ever returned to private life with 
such an abiding mastery over the affections of the people. No man 
with truer instinct received American ideas : no man expressed 
them so completely, or so boldly, or so sincerely. He was as sin- 
cere a man as ever lived. He was wholly, always, and altogether 
sincere and true. 

Up to the last, he dared do anything that it was right to do. 
He united personal courage and moral courage beyond any man of 
whom history keeps the record. Before the nation, before the 
world, before coming ages, he stands forth the representative, for 
his generation, of the American mind. And the secret of his great- 
ness is this : By intuitive conception, he shared and possessed all 
the creative ideas of his country and his time. He expressed them 
with dauntless intrepidity ; he enforced them with an immoveable 
will; he executed them with an electric power that attracted and 
swayed the American people. The nation, in his time, had not 



Bancroft's eulogy. 51 

one great thought, of which he was not the boldest and clearest 
expositor. 

History does not describe the man that equalled him in firmness 
of nerve. Not danger, not an army in battle array, not wounds, 
not wide-spread clamour, not age, not the anguish of disease, could 
impair in the least degree the vigour of his steadfast mind. The 
•heroes of antiquity would have contemplated with awe the un- 
matched hardihood of his character ; and Napoleon, had he pos- 
sessed his disinterested will, could never have been vanquished. 
Jackson never was vanquished. He was always fortunate. He 
conquered the wilderness ; he conquered the savage : he conquered 
the bravest veterans trained in the battle-fields of Europe ; he con- 
quered everywhere in statesmanship: and, when death came to get 
the mastery over him, he turned that last enemy aside as tranquilly 
as he had done the feeblest of his adversaries, and escaped from 
earth in the triumphant consciousness of immortality. 

His body has its fit resting-place in the great central valley of 
the Mississippi ; his spirit rests upon our whole territory ; it hovers 
over the vales of Oregon, and guards, in advance, the frontier of 
the Del Norte. The fires of party spirit are quenched at his grave. 
His faults and frailties have perished. Whatever of good he has 
done, lives, and will live for ever. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT PHILADELPHIA, JUNE 26, 1845, 



BY 



GEORGE M. DALLAS, 



VICE-PRESIDENT OK THE DN1TED STATES. 



Fellow-Citizens and Feiends — The sorrows of a nation, on the 
loss of a great and good man, are alike confirmed and assuaged by 
recurring to the virtues and services which endeared him. While 
funeral solemnities, such as are now in progress, attest the per- 
vading regrets of communities, and swelling tears betray the 
anguish of individual friendship; while the muffled drum, the 
shrouded ensign, and the silent march of mingled processions of 
citizens and soldiery, address their impressive force to the hearts 
of all, it is well to seek solace in remembrances which must 
brighten for ever the annals of our country, and which add more 
to the list of names whose mere utterance exalts the pride and 
strengthens the foundations of patriotism. 

At the epoch when, in September, 1774, the delegates of eleven 
colonies assembled at our Carpenters' Hall, before the first gun was 
' fired at Lexington, in the cause of western liberty, or Washington 
was yet hailed as " General and Commander-in-Chief," there could 
be seen in the wilds of the Waxhaw settlement in South Carolina, 
on a farm in a dangerous proximity to Indian tribes, and clustering 
with two elder brothers around a widowed mother, a boy about 
eight years of age, in whose veins coursed the same gallant blood 
that shortly after gushed from the wounds of Montgomery into the 
trenches of Quebec : that boy, moulded in the spirit of those stern 
times, clinging with his whole soul to the American people, 
ripened into athletic manhood, enfeebled by toil, by disease, and by 
age — is just now dead; and you have invited me to pronounce 
over his yet loose grave the tribute of your affectionate gratitude 
and veneration ; to soothe you by reminding you of the attributes 
and exploits of one who lived through all your heroic history, and 
was himself an inseparable part of it — who was born on your soil 
when, in fact, it was a mere margin of eastern coast, and had sunk 

(52) 



Dallas's eulogy. 53 

nidi it, when a continent — who know you When but two millions 
of .scattered, weak, dependent, and disquieted provincialists, and 
yet saw you, ere he ceased to know you, an immense, united, 
powerful and peaceful nation! It is impossible, on the present oc- 
casion, and with short notice, to do justice to a task so protracted, 
complicate and ennobling: but there are incidents and sentiments 
conned id with the character and career of Andrew Jackson, with 
which his countrymen unanimously sympathize, and which his 
public obsequies seem as appropriately as irresistibly to call into 
expression. 

The stripling orphan, while mourning over the loss of kindred, 
smarting under wounds and imprisonment, and hourly witnessing 
some new cruelty committed upon friends and neighbours, imbibed, 
dtiiing the storms of our Revolution, a deep, uncompromising, 
almost tierce love of country, that never lost its way over his 
actions. It became to him an impulse as instinctive and irrepressi- 
ble as breathing, and cannot but be regarded by those who trace his 
eVentful existence as the master passion of his nature. He passed 
through the war of 1776, in all but that, too youthful for his trials ; 
nor was there ever a moment in his after-being when this devotion 
can be said to have waned or slumbered in his breast. Such a trait, 
so pure, so ardent, so unvarying — as fresh three weeks ago as 
seventy years before — as prompt and eager amid the frosts of age, 
as when in the spring of life it first kindled at the voice of Wash- 
ington — invokes, now that the door of his sepulchre is closed, un- 
dissembled and undissenting praise. It is this quality of moral 
excellence which forms the basis of his fame, as it was the stimu- 
lant to every achievement. From his fight, under Davie, with 
Bryan's regiment of tories, in 1780, when scarcely thirteen years 
of age, down to the close of his remarkable campaign in Florida, 
when fifty-two, and thenceforward through all his diplomatic con- 
flicts with foreign powers, it shone with steady intensity. 

The peace of 1783 found him the only survivor of his family; 
left as it were alone, to face the snares of the world uneducated 
and still a boy. His small patrimony melted away before he could 
check the reckless and prodigal habits to which he had been trained 
by eight years of wild and desperate strife. There was no one to 
counsel or to guide him : no one to inculcate lessons of prudence; 
no one to lead him into the paths of useful industry and of 
restored tranquillity — but Jackson wanted no one. At this, per- 
haps the most critical period of his life, the " iron will" subse- 
quently attributed to his treatment of others, was nobly exercised 
in governing himself. Energetically entering upon the study of 
the law, the native force of his intellect enabled him, soon after 
attaining his majority, not merely to preserve his personal inde- 
pendence, but to carve his way to recognised distinction. The 
5 * 



54 



monument to Jackson. 



sphere of his professional practice, the western district of North 
Carolina, now the state of Tennessee, exacted labours and teemed 
with dangers such only as a resolution like his could encounter and 
surmount. Infested with enraged Chcrokees and Choctaws, its 
wilderness of two hundred miles, crossed and recrossed by the 
undaunted public solicitor more than twenty times, inured him to 
fatigue, to the sense of life constantly in peril, and to attacks and 
artifices of savage enemies whom he was destined signally to sub- 
due and disperse. It cannot be necessary to pursue these details 
further : no doubt it will recollected that after aiding to form a con- 
stitution for the state he has illustrated, General Jackson, at the age 
of thirty, became her first and only representative in Congress — 
was almost immediately transferred, in November, 1797, to the 
Senate of the United States, and, unwilling to prolong his legisla- 
tive services, became a judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee. 
In all these elevated stations, and especially in the last, his saga- 
cious mind, directed by motives at once pure and lofty, and sus- 
tained by a spirit of unconquerable firmness, has left monuments of 
practical wisdom and usefulness, in maintaining the rights and 
ameliorating the condition of his countrymen, which time cannot 
efface. 

When the prolonged aggressions of Great Britain upon the ma- 
ritime rights, commerce, and honour of America, prompted, in 
1812, a declaration of hostilities, our hero, though watchful of 
events and keenly alive to their bearing, had retired from public 
activity, and was engaged in the calm pursuits of agricultural life. 
That signal sounded with welcome, in his seclusion, and summoned 
him to a deathless renown. It came to his quick ear like a long 
wished-for permit to avenge the wrongs and re-establish the sullied 
name of those for whom he was ever ready to sacrifice, without 
stint, his repose, his fortune, and his blood. The war-cry of his 
country scarcely vibrated on the breeze ere he echoed it back as a 
music with which every chord of his soul was in unison. In less 
than a week, leaving his plough in its yet opening furrow, and his 
ripe harvest drooping for the sickle, he stood equipped and eager, 
in front of two thousand five hundred volunteers, awaiting orders 
from the chief executive. 

I must not, I dare not, quit the singleness of my subject, to 
indulge in reminiscences but partially connected with it, however 
alluring. Yet had the great and generous champion whom we 
lament, a host of associates, competitors with him in the proud 
struggle of which would risk most, suffer most, and achieve most, 
in exemplifying the prowess, securing the safety, and exalting the 
reputation of their country. That, indeed, may be considered as 
in itself an ample eulogium upon human merit which depicts him 
as in the van of a roll emblazoned by such names as Scott, Harri- 



dallas's eulogy. 55 

son, Brown, Shelby, Johnson, Gaines, Ripley, Hull, Decatur, 
Perry, and McDonough. Most of these have gone to graves 
over which are blooming, in unfading verdure, the laurels our gra- 
titude planted — none of them can present to posterity a title to im- 
mortal honour more conclusive than that involved in their having 
shared with Jackson the glories of 1812. 

There are some fields of public service from which ordinary 
patriotism not unusually recoils, and of this kind is military action 
against the comparatively weak, yet fierce and wily tribes of sa- 
vages still occupying parts of their original domain on our continent. 
Unregulated by the principles of civilized warfare, Indian cam- 
paigns and conflicts are accompanied by constant scenes of revolt- 
ing and unnecessary cruelty. Neither age nor sex, nor condition 
is spared ; havoc and destruction are the only ends at which the 
tomahawk, once brandished, can be stayed. In exact proportion, 
however, to the horrors of such a system, is the necessity of pro- 
tecting those of our people exposed to it by the most prompt and 
decisive resorts. When, in the midst of the great struggle with an 
European monarchy, the frontiers of Georgia and Tennessee were 
suddenly assailed by ferocious Creeks, all eyes turned, appealing 
with confidence for security, to him who was known to the foe 
themselves by the descriptive designations of " Long Arrow" and 
" Sharp Knife." No one, indeed, exhibited in higher perfection 
the two qualities essential to such a contest — sagacity and courage. 

The sagacity of General Jackson was the admiration of the 
sophist, and the wonder of the savage ; it unravelled the meshes of 
both, without the slightest seeming effort. Piercing through every 
subtlety or stratagem, it attained the truth with electrical rapidity. 
It detected at a glance the toils of an adversary, and discerned the 
mode by which these toils could best be baffled. His courage was 
equally finished and faultless — quick, but cool — easily aroused, but 
never boisterous — concentrated, enduring, and manly. No enemy 
could intimidate, no dangers fright him ; no surprise shook his pre- 
sence of mind, as no emergency transcended his self-control. The 
red braves of the wilderness confessed that in these, their highest 
virtues, General Jackson equalled the most celebrated of their 
chiefs. Invoked to the rescue, he roused from a bed of suffering 
and debility, among the terrified fugitives, addressing them with 
brief but animating exhortation: "Your frontier is threatened with 
invasion by the savage foe. Already are they marching to your 
borders with their scalping-knives unsheathed to butcher your 
women and children. Time is not to be lost. We must hasten to 
the frontier, or we shall find it drenched with the blood of our citi- 
zens. The health of your general is restored ; — he will command 
in person." 

It was in the progress of this exhibition, in regions at once deso- 



56 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

latod and unproductive, that this patient and persevering fortitude 
overcame obstacles of appalling magnitude ; — and here it was that, 
■with touching kindness, when suffering the cravings of famine, he 
offered to divide with one of his own soldiers the handful of acorns 
he had secretly hoarded! The three victories of Talledega, Emuck- 
faw, and Enotochopco, purchased with incredible fatigue, expo- 
sure, and loss of life, are not only to be valued in reference to the 
population and territory they pacified and redeemed, but as having 
disclosed, just in time for the crisis of the main war, the transcen- 
dent ability and fitness of him who was destined to stamp its close 
with an exploit of unrivalled heroism and consummate generalship. 

Shall I abruptly recall the battle of New Orleans ? — recall, did I 
say ? Js it ever absent from the memory of an American ? Mingled 
indissolubly with the thought of country, it springs to mind as 
Thermopylae or Marathon, when Greece is named. He who gave 
that battle, with all its splendid preliminaries and results, to our 
chronicles of national valour, may cease to be mortal, but can never 
cease to be renowned. He may have a grave, but, like the Father 
of his Country, he can want no monument but posterity. 

The judgment of the world has been irreversibly passed upon 
that extraordinary achievement of our republican soldier. Analyzed 
in all its plans, its means, its motives, and its execution — the genius 
that conceived, the patriotism that impelled, the boldness that never 
backed, nor paused, nor counted :. the skill which trebled every 
resource, the activity that was everywhere, the end that accom- 
plished everything. It was a master-piece of work which C?esar, 
William Tell, Napoleon, and Washington, could unite in applaud- 
ing. Even the vanquished, soothed by the magnanimity of their 
victor, have since, laid the tribute of their admiration at his feet. 
For that battle, in itself and alone, as now passed into the imper- 
ishable records of history, an exhaustless fund of moral property, 
our descendants in distant ages will teach their children, as they 
imbibe heroism from illustration and example, to murmur their 
blessings. 

I have dwelt, fellow-citizens, with perhaps unnecessary length, 
upon the martial merits of the deceased. I have done so, because 
these merits are incontestable, and form, apart from every other 
consideration, an overwhelming claim to the veneration and grati- 
tude we are now displaying. To me, personally, as you all know, 
it would be alike consistent and natural to go much farther ; but, 
entertaining a real deference for the sentiments of others, I should 
be unable to pardon myself if, on an occasion so peculiarly solemn, 
a single word fell from my lips which did not chime with the tone 
of every bosom present. The time has not come, and among a 
free, fearless, and frank people, such as you are, it may possibly 
never come, when the civic characteristics of Jackson, during his 



dallas's eulogy. 57 

chief magistracy of eight years, can be other than topics of sincere 
differences of opinion. 

Springing, however, directly from what I have considered as the 
great root of his public services, is at least one branch of his execu- 
tive policy and action that need not be avoided. If, as a Revolu- 
tionary lad, he clung to the cause of the colonists; — if, as a soldier, 
he knew no shrinking from his flag ; — as a president of these states, 
he stood, without budging, on the rock of their Union. It seemed 
as if, to him, that was hallowed ground, ungenial to the weeds of 
party, identical indeed with country. Count the cost of this con- 
federacy, and he was scornfully silent ; speak of disregarding her 
laws, and his remonstrances were vehement ; move but a hair's 
breadth to end the compact, and he was in arms ! On this vast 
concern, involving, directly or remotely, all the precious objects 
of American civilization, his zeal was as uncompromising, perhaps 
as unrefining and undiscriminating, as his convictions were pro- 
found. The extent of our obligation to him in regard to it cannot 
well be exaggerated. Possessing in his high office the opportunity, 
he gave to his purpose an impetus and an emphasis, that will keep 
for ever ringing in the ears of his successors — " The Union must 
and shall be preserved /" 

Such was the hero we mourn ! With a constitution undermined 
by privations incident to his military labours, and a frame shat- 
tered by diseases, he had retired to the seclusion of the Hermitage, 
long and patiently awaiting the only and final relief from suffering. 
It came to him on the evening of the 8th instant, in the centre of 
his home's affectionate circle, while his great mind was calm and 
unclouded, and when his heart was prepared to welcome its dila- 
tory messenger. Yes! yes! he on whom for half a century his 
country gazed as upon a tower of strength — on whom she never 
called for succour against the desolating savage, without being 
answered by a rushing shout of, " Onward, to the rescue!" — who 
anticipated her invading foes by destroying them ere their foot- 
prints on her soil were cold — he, the iron warrior, the reproach- 
less patriot, has ceased to be mortal, has willingly made his single 
surrender — the surrender — the surrender of his soul to its Almighty 
claimant ! 

It may almost be said that General Jackson was constituted of 
two natures, so admirably and so distinctly were his qualities 
adapted to their respective spheres of action. I have portrayed 
hurriedly and crudely his public character — let us for an instant 
see him, on one or two points at least, in the other aspect, and per- 
haps we may thence catch the secret of his sublime and beautiful 
death. The rugged exterior which rough wars in our early west- 
ern settlements would naturally impart, was smoothed and polished 
in him by a spirit of benevolence deeply seated in his temperament. 
In social intercourse, though always earnest, rapid, impressive, 



58 MOXnMK.vr TO JACKSON. 

and upright, his friendship was marked by boundless confidence 
and generosity ; while in domestic life a winning gentleness seemed 
to spread from the recesses of his heart over the whole man, filling 
the scenes around him with smiles of serenity and joy. No husband 
loved more ardently, more faithfully, more unchangeably — no 
parent could surpass the self-sacrificing kindness with which he 
reared and cherished his adopted children — no master could be 
more certain of reciprocated fondness than he was, when, as ex- 
piring, he breathed the hope of hereafter meeting in the heaven to 
which he was hastening, the servants of his household, " as well 
black as white." The truthfulness of this picture is attested by all 
who were admitted to the sanctuary of his home — precincts too 
sacred, even on an occasion equally sacred, for more than this brief 
intrusion. 

But there was a crowning characteristic, from adverting to which 
I must not. shrink, though in the presence in which I stand. Gene- 
ral Jackson was fervently, unaffectedly, and submissively pious ! 
Wherever he might be, and whatever his absorbing pursuit — 
wading heavily through the swamps of Florida, on the track of 
Hillishago ; speeding with the swoop of an eagle, to grapple the 
invader, Packenham ; careering, at the head of his victorious 
legions, through throngs of admiring countrymen ; in the halls of 
the executive mansion ; or at his hearth in the Hermitage ; there, 
and then, everywhere and always, though not ostensible, and never 
obtrusive, his faith was with him. But it was most closely and 
conspicuously with him as dissolution approached' — it was with 
him to brighten the rays of his mind, to cheer the throbs of his 
heart, to take the sting from his latest pang, and to give melody to 
his last farewell ! The dying hour of Jackson bears triumphant 
testimony to the Christian's hope 

Such was the Hero; such was the 
Man we mourn ! 

Come, then, my countrymen! let us, as it were, gather round 
the depository of his remains ! From those who knew him, as it 
has been my lot to know him, the frequent tear of cherished and 
proud remembrance must fall. To all of us it will be some relief 
to join in the simple and sacred sentiment of public gratitude. 

How sleep the brave who sink to rest, 
By all their country's honours bleat! 
When Spring, with dewy fingers cold. 
Returns to seek their hallowed mould, 
She there shall dress a sweeter sod 
Than Fancy's feet have ever Irod ; 
By fairy forms their dirge is sung — 
By hands unseen their knell is rung; — 
There Honour comes, a pilgrim gray, 
To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; 
And Freedom shall awhile repair 
To dwell a weeping hermit there ! 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT NEW YORK CITY, JUNE 24, 1845, 



BY 



B. F. BUTLER, 

LATE ATTORNEY -OENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Mournful but pleasant, friends and fellow-citizens, is the ser- 
vice in which we are engaged. Andrew Jackson, upon whose bed 
of sickness and suffering have been so intently fixed the filial and 
solicitous regards of the millions of America, is no more. His 
great soul has ascended to its Author ; his venerable form has sunk 
into the grave. To that grave, with swelling hearts and tearful 
eyes, and sad funeral rites, a nation is repairing. We have come 
to it to-day. While we linger within its sacred precincts, the 
praises of the hero we reverence, the magistrate we honoured, and 
the man we loved, rise instinctivel}' to our lips. To their free 
utterance, affection prompts, duty enjoins, nature compels us. It 
is fitting, it is right, that such tributes should be paid to those who, 
in council or in camp, have advanced the glory of their country 
and the welfare of their kind. The homage thus bestowed is at 
least disinterested. For the dead who are its objects, insensible alike 
to praise and to blame, can make no return to the living who prof- 
fer it. It exerts a humanizing influence on the universal heart ; it 
promotes the formation of a true national character ; it softens the 
asperities of party ; it incites to a virtuous emulation. Next, in 
purity and meetness, to the thanksgiving which we owe the God who 
gave, and guided, and sustained them, is the feeling of grateful re- 
verence we should ever cherish towards those who are the instru- 
ments of His goodness. To the claims of our great men, of every 
age and time, of every sect and party, let us, then, be faithful. 
Let history transmit to other generations the story of their lives ; 
let the canvass and the marble perpetuate the image of their forms; 
let poetry and music breathe forth their names in hymns and har- 
monies ; let the united voice of their countrymen echo their praises 
to the remotest shores — so that, wherever an American footstep 
shall tread, or the lover of American liberty be found, there, too, 



GO MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

the memory of their greatness shall abide — a beauty and an excel- 
lence — the joy of all the earth ! The facts and incidents which 
belong to the romantic and eventful life of Andrew Jackson, are 
too numerous to allow me, on the present occasion, to attempt any 
extended biographical sketch. After a brief notice of his early 
life, 1 shall, therefore, confine myself to a general view of such 
portions of his more active career as seem to me best calculated to 
illustrate the prominent features of his character, and his more 
important services to his country. He was the son of respectable 
parents, belonging to the most hardy, virtuous, and useful of all 
orders of society — the great middle class. His parents, as is well 
known, were natives of Ireland, though some of their ancestors 
were originally from Scotland. They emigrated to South Carolina 
in 1765. He was born at the Waxhaw settlement, in that state, 
on the 15th of March, 1767. He died on Sunday, the 8th day of 
the present month, having been spared to the good old age of more 
than seventy-eight }-ears ; retaining to the last, in a remarkable 
degree, his extraordinary intellectual powers, his ardent affections, 
and his deep interest in the happiness of his friends and the welfare 
of his country. The peculiarities of his character are in harmony 
with his extraction. The martyr blood of Scotland blended with 
that of the Emerald Isle, and modified by the residence of his an- 
cestors in her genial clime, coursed in his veins; and no man, pro- 
bably, ever lived, who united, in a higher degree, the firmness and 
perseverance of the one race with the quick and ardent tempera- 
ment of the other. Deprived, soon after his birth, of his father, 
his eldest brother slain during the war of the Revolution, by British 
troops, himself compelled, by the approach of the enemy, to aban- 
don, at the age of fourteen, the academy at which he had been 
placed; freely offering himself, with his sole surviving brother, to 
the military service of his country ; both soon after captured by 
the enemy ; hoth assaulted and wounded, because scorning to sub- 
mit to personal indignity ; the other of the two brothers dying of 
the wound thus received ; his mother soon after pressed by fatigue 
and grief into an untimely grave ; was ever an ardent and suscep- 
tible youth placed in circumstances more likely to make a deep 
and lasting impression on his character? "The child," to use the 
words of a great poet of our own times, "the child is father of the 
man." And when we consider the baptism of blood by which 
Andrew Jackson, in the spring-time of his youth, was dedicated to 
the service of his country, can we wonder at the undying faithful- 
ness, or the burning zeal, with which, from youth to age, he pre- 
sented himself a living sacrifice at her altar? 

Passing over the intermediate space, we find him, at the age of 
twenty-one, established in the practice of the law, in what was 
then one of the back settlements of North Carolina. It was a re- 



butler's eulogy. 61 

gion of restless activity, of stirring interest, of wild adventure. The 
scanty population, thinly scattered over an extensive territory, was 
constantly exposed to the inroads of powerful tribes of Indians, still 
the occupants of its primeval forests. They had been subjugated, 
during the war of the Revolution, by the American arms, but were 
ever ready, when occasion tempted, to surprise the incautious 
traveller, and to cut off the unprotected family. In the border 
conflicts which grew out of this condition of the territory, Jackson 
renewed the instructions in the drill and muster which he received 
in boyhood, and added to them lessons in the warfare of the Indians, 
both destined to be afterwards employed on a wider theatre and for 
infinitely greater ends. Intestine feuds also distracted the inhabit- 
ants; many of their number were rude in manners, and some of 
them reckless in character ; the collection of debts, by force of 
law, was a task of difficulty and of danger, and the lawyer who un- 
dertook it needed activity of body as well as of intellect, firmness 
of nerve as well as of purpose, vigour of arm as well as of under- 
standing. 

Jackson, bringing with him an unsullied reputation, was imme- 
diately employed in cases of this sort ; and he entered on the dis- 
charge of his professional duties with the same promptitude and 
energy, so often displayed by him in matters of higher and more 
extended interest. In these, and other professional efforts of the 
like nature, he is beset by opposition, and embroiled in collisions, 
which might have proved fatal to one less honest and courageous ; 
but his manly bearing and his inflexible pursuit of justice, in despite 
of every impediment, establish his reputation ; and professional 
success is the necessary consequence. Another result is, that he 
becomes universally known as one of the first citizens, in point of 
character and influence, of the young community, now rapidly in- 
creasing in numbers, and about to be organized, with the consent 
and by the cession of North Carolina, as a territory of the United 
States. This event takes place in 1 790, and Andrew Jackson re- 
ceives from George Washington, then president of the United 
States, his first appointment to office — that of attorney of the 
United States for the new territory. 

In the short space of six years the territorial government is super- 
seded by the admission into the Union of the state of Tennessee. 
Jackson is a member of the convention which forms the constitu- 
tion, and he takes an active part in the preparation of that instru- 
ment. It contains some peculiar provisions which deserve a mo- 
ment's notice. The members of the legislature are chosen for two 
years, and meet only biennially, except when called together on 
extraordinary occasions. This arrangement is founded on the idea, 
that while annual meetings of the legislative body are indispensa- 
ble in countries having a hereditary executive, the like necessity 
G 



B2 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

does not exist where the executive is chosen by, and responsible to, 
the people ; and that the people themselves are the best conserva- 
tors of their rights. The bill of rights in this constitution is one of 
the most liberal and comprehensive adopted by any of our states. 
It asserts, in the strongest terms, the inherent and uncontrollable 
sovereignty of the people, and their right to instruct, as well as to 
petition, their representatives ; it denounces perpetuities and mo- 
nopolies as contrary to the genius of a free state ; and it forbids the 
grant of any hereditary emoluments, privileges, or honours. From 
the subsequent life of Jackson, it is easy to see that he must have 
assented, with a warm heart, to all these provisions. 

Immediately on the admission of the new state into the Union, 
Jackson is chosen one of her delegates in the House of Representa- 
tives; and the next year he is appointed one of her senators in 
Congress. He serves in this distinguished body, over which 
Thomas Jefferson was then the presiding officer, until 1799, and 
thus enjoys opportunities of forming a personal friendship with a 
statesman and political philosopher, with whose sentiments his own 
entirely concur, and for whose genius he cherishes the highest ad- 
miration. In 1799, he retires by voluntary resignation from the 
honourable post Most unexpectedly to himself, he is immediate!}' 
appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of his state, a station which 
he accepts with reluctance, and from which he withdraws at an 
early day. He does so with the design, which he then supposes 
he (nay be permitted to accomplish, of spending the residue of his 
days in the quiet retreat of a country life. Little does he dream 
of the brilliant destiny that awaits him. In the mean time, as 
another preparation for that destiny, the field officers of one of the 
divisions of the Tennessee militia, no strangers to his lofty patriot- 
ism, or his martial spirit, had chosen him without consultation with, 
or notice to him, their major-general. This commission he retained 
until 1814, when he received the like appointment in the army of 
the United States. 

We are now to contemplate Andrew Jackson in the new arid 
conspicuous theatre in which he attracted the regards not only 
of America, but of the world. Rallying to his standard at the 
first moment when the action of the government enabled him 
to do so, the gallant spirits of his division, he dedicates their 
persons and his own to the service of the nation. From No- 
vember, 1812, to the cessation of hostilities, he is constantly em- 
ployed in creating and leading the armies, fighting the battles, and 
vanquishing the enemies of his country. It is not my purpose to 
enter into the details of his military exploits. Of all and of each 
it ma}' be said, that in each and in all he acquitted himself as no 
other man but Andrew Jackson could have done. With his first 
touch of the marshal's tmnchpon, the hand of one horn to command 



butler's eulogy. 63 

at will the energies of his troops, to infuse into them his own dar- 
ing spirit, and successfully to cope in any and every field with the ^ 
most skilful and courageous of his enemies, is evidently seen. 
Throughout his whole military career he exhibits in felicitous com- 
bination all the great qualities of a great commander — compre- 
hensiveness and accuracy of view, genius to devise, skill and cour- 
age to execute, coolness and self-possession in every emergency, 
perfect command of his resources, sagacity to discover and ability 
to defeat the plans of his opponent. In his campaign against the 
Creeks, so formidable by their numbers, their obstinate bravery, 
and their proficiency in all the arts of savage warfare, he adds to 
the hardihood, the patience, and the self-denial of a Hannibal — the 
vigour, the celerity, the success of a Ceesar. When he plants, 
upon his own responsibility, the American eagle on the forts of 
Pensacola, statesmen see that the instincts of a heart and will de- 
voted to the public weal, can anticipate the rules of public law ; 
and the nation recognise and honour the clearness of his judg- 
ment not less than the promptitude and energy of his conduct. 

In his command at New Orleans, from his arrival at the be- 
leaguered city until his departure from it, we seem to follow some 
heaven-appointed and heaven-assisted warrior of the ancient dis- 
pensation, rather than a chieftain of modern times. Such super- 
human activity — such assumption and exercise of power — such 
chivalrous daring and consummate address in striking the first blow 
in the unequal conflict — such cautious preparations for the final 
struggle — such perfect success in its triumphant issue — such fright- 
ful havoc in the troops of the enemy, and such almost miraculous 
preservation of his own — who, in these things, does not see the 
hand of God, the agency of an instrument ordained, prepared, and 
guided by Himself? I must content myself with the briefest pos- 
sible reference to the war with the Seminoles, in 1817-18. It the 
exploits of Jackson in this campaign had constituted his whole title 
to military renown, they would have been amply sufficient to place 
him high on the roll of fame. How does it enhance the estimate 
of his former achievements, when it is considered that the Semi- 
nole war is scarcely thought of in the comparison ; and that Jack- 
son is seldom named in connexion with it, except by those who 
refer to it for the purpose of denouncing him for the execution of 
Ambrister and Arbuthnot ! Having named this incident, I feel it 
right to state my entire conviction, that in this, as in every other 
act of his public life, he proceeded under a deep sense of what he 
believed to be the injunction of duty ; and duty was ever to him 
as the voice of heaven. " My God would not have smiled on me" 
(was his characteristic remark, when speaking of this affair to him 
who addresses you), " had I punished only the poor, ignorant sav- 
ages, and spared the white men who set them on." 



64 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

The hour has at length come when Jackson believed he ma}' a 
second time retire to rural occupations, without danger of any 
further call to engage in the service of the Union. The nation is 
at peace with all the world ; the Indian tribes have been reduced 
to submission; peace reigns in all our borders, and tranquillity 
throughout the land. He resigns his commission in the army ; re- 
fuses the appointment of minister to Mexico, conferred on him by 
President Monroe, not only because he desires no office of emolu- 
ment or honour, but because he will not countenance, by his pre- 
sence at the court of Iturbide, the substitution of a monarchy in 
place of a republic, nor the means by which it has been effected. 
Other reasons concur, to enforce the step he has taken. Incessant 
toil in the various duties of his command — exposure to the hard- 
ships of military service in the warm climates of the South, and 
especially in the swamps and morasses of Florida — have under- 
mined his constitution ; and retirement seems as needful to the pre- 
servation of his own life, as it is to the happiness of those who have 
so long been denied the pleasure of his society. He does not deem 
it inconsistent with this feeling, to accept the office of smator in 
Congress, again conferred on him by his beloved Tennessee ; for 
this honourable and comparatively easy service will still leave him, 
the greater portion of the year, an inmate of the Hermitage. But 
his mission is not yet ended. 

" Peace hath her victories, 
No less renowned than war." 

And many such victories he is yet to win. By spontaneous up- 
risings of the people, in his own and other states, he is presented 
to the nation as a candidate for the highest trust. Though not at 
first invested with this dignity, his three competitors, each long 
and honourably identified with the civic service of the Union, are 
left behind him in the race. 

In due course of time another contest ensues. He is raised to 
the chief magistracy by more than two to one of the electoral 
votes. In surveying, from this high eminence, the field of duty to 
which he has been called, he perceives that with many foreign 
states we have unsettled subjects of dispute, growing out of claims 
to justice long deferred, for spoliations of our commerce, during 
that reign of lawless violence which, in the beginning of this 
century, disgraced and barbarized the maritime wars of Europe. 
He sees that, unless speedily adjusted, they will expose us to the 
alternative either of sacrificing our national honour or of vindicat- 
ing by the sword our unquestionable rights. He resolves that this 
state of things shall not continue ; that no needless delay, no eva- 
sive subterfuge shall be allowed; that he will proceed, with all 
possible despatch, in the prosecution of his duty, " asking nothing 



v 



butler's eulogy. 65 

that is not right, and submitting to nothing that is wrong ;" and he 
believes that if this course be steadily and wisely pursued, peace 
will be preserved, and justice be obtained. 

The result shows the sagacity of his conclusions. One after 
another, treaties are made and ratified, by which these subjects of 
irritation, so grave and so dangerous, are all, at length, happily 
disposed of. In one case only is there any serious delay ; but this 
is the most important of them all ; for it is our ancient ally, the 
beautiful, the brilliant France of our own La Fayette, that neglects 
the performance of her duty. Jackson does not hesitate or waver 
in his course. He deals with the greatest and most honoured as 
he would have dealt with the weakest and most humble : he sees 
to it that while the respectful courtesies due to so distinguished a 
delinquent are sedulously observed, no jot or tittle of the national 
honour is lost or compromised. In the end, justice is secured ; the 
faith of treaties vindicated ; the peace of empires preserved ; and 
France herself, on a fuller understanding of his course, does honour, 
Avith a characteristic chivalry and grace, to the "tete dcfe?-"* — the 
iron will of the stern old man. 

" His name through Europe rings, 

Filling each mouth with envy or with praise, Lx' 

And all her jealous monarehs with amaze, 
And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings." 

And by his energy and renown our national character is raised to a 
height of glory never before attained by the American Republic. 

In the meantime, Jackson has been involved at home, in con- 
flicts protracted and severe. Fired with the love of democratic 
liberty, and filled with zeal for the constitution, he pursues systems 
of policy, and adopts a course of measures which bring on violent 
collisions with the interests, passions, and prejudices of men in dif- 
ferent quarters of the Union. In the midst of the outbursts of 
party, produced by these collisions, he is re-elected by a vote of 
three to one over all the other candidates, although the state of his 
nativity, formerly foremost in his support, withholds her approving 
voice. Opposition to him is followed, on her part, by resistance to 
the laws; the integrity of the Union is threatened ; and the nation 
is exposed to the dangers of a civil war. Now it is that Andrew 
Jackson, superior to the danger and equal to the remedy it requires, 
by his fidelity, his firmness, and his wisdom, achieves the most 
splendid and most enduring of his victories; averting from his 
country the stain and curse of fraternal blood ; and giving to his 
memorable pledge, "Our Federal Union — it must be preserved," 
the strength of a fixed resolve, and the majesty of a perpetual 
truth. While the plaudits which now rise from every quarter of 
the Union are yet sounding in his ears; when by mere inaction 
in respect to other sources of political convulsion, he could have 
6* 



6fi MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

secured for the remainder of his official term a larger degree of 
personal repose and general approbation than was ever enjoyed by 
any of his predecessors, he is again compelled, as he believes, to a 
clear and inexorable duty, whose execution he well knows will 
revive anew the animosity of party, involve in bitter and painful 
conflict the remnant of his public life, and bring upon himself per- 
haps the censures of many whom he loves, and with whose good 
opinions he would not lightly part. 

Inferior minds would have shrunk from this new trial. So did 
not Jackson. What efforts were made to drive him from his pur- 
pose — with what inflexible resolution he adhered to his position, 
and how the people sustained him in this conflict also, is it not 
written in the history of the times, and fresh in the recollections 
of all who hear me I In reference to this, as well as to every 
other debateable portion of his public life, I purposely refrain, lest 
I should transgress the just bounds of this occasion, from any at- 
tempt to vindicate their expediency or their rightfulness. Only 
one claim in his behalf do I now think it needful or becoming to 
assert ; that if, in any of his official acts he erred, his errors were 
of the understanding, not of the heart; and that, in them all, he 
acted from honest, disinterested, and patriotic motives. On this 
point he thus speaks, in the lofty tone of conscious integrity, in 
one of his recorded vindications : — 

" In vain do I bear upon my person enduring memorials of that 
contest in which American liberty was purchased — in vain have I 
since perilled property, fame, and life, in defence of the rights and 
privileges so dearly bought, * * * if any serious doubts can 
be entertained as to the purity of my purposes and motives. * * * 
In the history of conquerors and usurpers, never, in the fire of 
youth nor the vigour of manhood, could I find an attraction to lure 
me from the path of duty, and now I shall scarcely find an induce- 
ment to commence their career of ambition, when gray hairs and 
a decaying frame, instead of inviting to toil and battle, call me lo 
the contemplation of other worlds, where conquerors cease to be 
honoured, and usurpers expiate their crimes. The only ambition I 
can feel, is to acquit myself to Him to whom I must soon render 
an account of my stewardship, to serve my fellow-men, and live 
respected and honoured in the history of my country. No — the 
ambition which leads me on, is an anxious desire and a fixed deter- 
mination to return to the people unimpaired the sacred trust they 
have confided to my charge, * * * to persuade my country- 
men, so far as I may, that it is not in a splendid government, sup- 
ported by powerful monopolies and aristocraticai establishments, that 
they will find happiness, or their liberties protection; but in a 
plain system, void of pomp — protecting all, and granting favours 
to none — dispensing its blessings, like the dews of Heaven, unseen 



butler'^ eulogy. 67 

and unfelt, save in the freshness and beauty they contribute to pro- 
duce. It is such a government that the genius of our people re- 
quires — such an one only under which our states may remain for 
ages to come, united, prosperous, and free. If the Almighty Being, 
who has hitherto sustained and protected me, will but vouchsafe to 
make my feeble powers instrumental to such a result, I shall anti- 
cipate, with pleasure, the place to be assigned me in the history of 
my country, and die contented, with the belief that I have contri- 
buted, in some small degree, to increase the value and prolong the 
duration of American liberty." 

Andrew Jackson has now retired to the sequestered shades of 
private life, with the benedictions of a grateful people and the re- 
spect and admiration of the world. He enters his loved and peace- 
ful Hermitage, at the appointed limit of human existence, with an 
enfeebled frame ; the victim of complicated and incurable mala- 
dies, which leave him little respite from pain, and no strength or 
relish for the pleasures of active life. Yet has this been, in many 
respects, the happiest and not the least useful portion of his mortal 
career. 

Feeling that he has fulfilled with fidelity and zeal the course of 
public service to which Providence had called him ; conscious of 
the singleness and purity of his motives, and happy in the belief 
that the great mass of his political opponents do him justice in this 
respect ; thrice happy in the knowledge, that the principles by 
which he has been guided are warmly cherished by a great majo- 
rity of the people ; receiving continually, and in a thousand forms, 
proofs of affection and esteem from all classes of his countrymen; 
full of faith in thp vitality and perpetuity of our system of go- 
vernment, state and federal ; anticipating, with delight, the ad- 
vancing glories of his country, and surrounded by a family he 
loves, and by each member of which he is held in the profoundest 
veneration ; the retirement of Andrew Jackson, notwithstanding 
his bodily infirmities, is all that wisdom or patriotism can desire, 
and such as few statesmen and heroes in the history of mankind 
have been permitted to enjoy. For more than eight years he is 
spared to our affections, and though for the last three of them he 
seldom quits his dwelling, except to bow himself in the house of 
God, his mental faculties remain unimpaired ; nor are they idle for 
a day. His correspondence, whether of friendship, or of private 
or public business, is kept up with steadiness and activity. Alive 
to everything that concerns his beloved country, and taking daily 
note of her affairs, he sounds from his lone watch-tower the voice 
of counsel or of warning, according to the vision which he sees, 
and to the message which has been given him. And though at 
times a dull ear is turned to his prophesyings, yet, in most cases, 



68 MONUMENT TO .TACKSON. 

and especially in the latest, his words have been clothed with their 
ancient power over tin- minds and the actions of his fellows. 

If there be any to whom these utterances seem futile or needless, 
they will yet allow that each of them breathes the language of the 
heart, and is instinct with /,eal for the bappiness and glory of Ame- 
rica. But it is not to the public cause that all his thoughts are 
given. Weight v and instant as are the duties of the citizen to his 
country, Andrew Jackson remembers that he owes to his Maker 
higher and more solemn responsibility. This sentiment had been 
implanted in his youthful breast by a mother's lessons and a mother's 
love. It had been nourished by the example of a wife — one of the 
excellent of the earth ; by providential deliverances and favours ; 
by the perusal of the Book of God, and by the instructions of the 
pulpit. Under the circumstances in which he is now placed, 
these influences acquire new, and, by Divine blessing, decisive 
force. They lead him to the Garden and the Cross ; he seeks and 
he obtains the forgiveness of his sins ; he avows before the world 
the hopes he has received, and publicly enlists in the army of the 
faithful. Henceforward he addicts himsplf, with a child-like do- 
cility, to the duties and privileges of the Christian life. He finds 
in them his chief enjoyment, and they produce in him their ap- 
propriate effects — peace with God, fortitude in suffering, patience 
and resignation in the midst of pain, serenity and hope in the pros- 
pect of his departure. And when at length the final hour has 
come, how does it illustrate the humility of his character, the 
warmth of his benevolence, the sincerity, the vigour of his faith! 
With prayers for his household, his friends, his country ; with the 
words of instruction and of love to all around him ; with entire 
reliance on the merits of his Redeemer, he commits, without a 
murmur or a sigh, his immortal spirit to the God of his salvation, 
his perishing body to the dust from which it came ! 

Such, fellow-citizens, were the last moments of Andrew Jack- 
son. How unlike those usually assigned by poetry and romance to 
their fabled heroes ? And yet, in the sober judgment of enlightened 
reason, not less sublime and heroic than if passed on the field of 
battle, and in the chariot of victory. The greatest of all triumphs, 
is that which is achieved over the last enemy ; and this, through 
the faith that is in Jesus, Jackson was enabled to achieve. The 
fires of the last day shall consume the laurel wreaths of earth ; 
most of them, indeed, will have withered ere it comes ; and all 
ever worn or won, in the tide of time, would furnish no compensa- 
tion for the loss of a single soul. But the chaplet awarded to the 
faithful soldier of the Cross, shall be a crown of glory "that fadeth 
not away." How poor, in comparison, the death scenes enact<<l 
by the most illustrious warriors of the heathen world! Jackson 
was a Christian, and he died the Christian's death. In view of thi;, 



EULOGY. 69 

fact, and of its blessed issues, how rich, how unfailing our sources 
of consolation ! In notes as melodious and sublime as those which 
wafted to the skies, by the aid of Milton's immortal genius, the de- 
parting spirit of the Hebrew martyr, the chorus of American sym- 
pathy sends up from our Jackson's bed of death its psean of mourn- 
ful exultation — 

" Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail, 
Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt, 
Dispraise or blame; nothing but well and fair, 
And what may quiet us in a death so noble." 

The valley of the Mississippi, the theatre of his youthful valour 
and his meridian renown — the sanctuary of his declining age — 
folds within her bosom the ashes of her hero. In the centre of 
that young but vigorous state, whose destinies, once his anxious 
care, were long the objects of his satisfied regard ; on the sunny 
banks of the Cumberland, where the strong verdure of the West 
begins reluctantly to yield to the luxuriant beauty of the South; 
embosomed in a sacred solitude, stands the tomb of the Hermitage, 
— henceforth to divide with Mount Vernon the respect, the admi- 
ration, and the reverence of mankind. The simplicity of his life, 
the calm dignity of his death, are exemplified by the humility of 
his grave. You remember how he rejected the imperial honour 
that was proffered to his bones. " I cannot permit my remains to 
be the first in these United States to be deposited in a sarcophagus 
made for an emperor or king. I have prepared an humble deposi- 
tory for my mortal body beside that wherein lies my beloved wife ; 
where, without any pomp or parade, I have requested, when my 
God calls me to sleep with my fathers, to be laid ;. for both of us 
there to remain until the last trumpet sounds to call the dead to 
judgment, when we, I hope, shall rise together, clothed with that 
heavenly body promised to all who believe in our glorious Re- 
deemer, who died for us that we might live, and by whose atone- 
ment I hope for a blessed immortality." This was the answer of 
Christian meekness, of republican simplicity, of American patriot- 
ism. Catching the strain from the lips of the dying hero, we may 
echo its lofty inspiration. More than this, we may give it to-day 
a new and sublimer significance. Sleep sweetly, aged soldier, 
statesman, sage, in the grave of kindred and affection. It matters 
little where Ms body is laid, whose memory is enshrined in all our 
hearts ; the monument of whose fame is the country that he served; 
thi' inscription of whose greatness are the praises of the world. 
But if there be any solace in memory ; if any virtue in the con- 
templation of heroic deeds ; any purity in the lessons of sublime 
example ; to the sepulchre of Jackson let the pilgrimage of hu- 
manity be made — in the ardour of a generous enthusiasm, the sym- 
pathy of a fraternal love, the consolation of a Christian faith. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT PORTSMOUTH, NEW HAMPSHIRE, JULY 2, 1845, 



BY THE 



Hon. LEVI WOODBURY. 



My Fellow-Citizens : — This is no ordinary occasion, when a 
whole nation is in mourning. The solemn toll of the bell — the 
funeral dirge — the shroud — the crape — and the minute-gun — all, 
over every hill and valley of our wide republic, bespeak some great 
public loss as well as public grief. We come together this even- 
ing to express in language, still stronger, if possible, than these 
melancholy tokens, our own deep sense of the bereavement the 
country has sustained in the death of one of the noblest of her 
children. 

It is no overstrained eulogy to add, that so many testimonials of 
respect and real love from a whole people would be offered, at this 
time, to the memory of but a single man on the western continent. 
That man, the history of all around tells us, was the hero of New 
Orleans. He is no more. The victor in a hundred battles has at 
last fallen. The pilot, who weathered the storm in the fiercest 
hurricanes of political strife, looks no longer to the compass or the 
clouds to guide us ; and the Christian as well as sage and patriot of 
the Hermitage — who still prayed for his country, after the power 
to do aught else had ceased — has gone to his great and glorious re- 
ward, while we linger a little longer to offer, it is hoped, some 
deserved tribute to his memory, and try to profit by his bright 
example. 

How can we do this best, in the few mournful moments now 
allotted to that object ? 

Most of the incidents in a life so distinguished as that of General 
Jackson, are too familiar to make a repetition of them either neces- 
sary or useful. 

We all — from lisping childhood to palsied age — know that he 
was one of the survivors of those who bled in our glorious Revolu- 
tion, and that his character was one of that strong cast — run in that 

(70) 



Woodbury's eulogy. 71 

iron mould formed amidst its trials and dangers. We have all 
heard, when not seen, of the hardy habits, and almost heroic pow- 
ers, which belonged to that great struggle, and which, so strikingly 
embodied in the majestic form of our patriot chief, lived to bless 
a later age, and aid our country in other trials of the cabinet as 
well as the camp. Statuary and painting and history, no less than 
the school-room, the humble fireside, the village husting, and every 
anniversary of the independence he helped to win and defend, 
have all vied in making us acquainted with the principal outlines 
of his figure, his mind, and those signal victories both in peace and 
war, that have enrolled him so high among the warriors and states- 
men of the era he adorned. 

We all know, also, that, retiring from the public stage, covered 
with the plaudits and honours of a grateful people, he has for years 
pursued the peaceful employment of a planter, shedding a benign 
influence by his example on all around him ; and though not 
mingling in the turmoil of politics, still lending an anxious eye 
and heart to advance his country's greatness — till the lamp of life 
at last burnt out in its socket ; and in sight of the grave of her he 
loved best, his spirit departed to join hers, as he hoped, in a happier 
and a holier abode. Thus did the patriarch sink to his last rest. 

But, after the close of such a life, all is not over with it, even 
here. Though the cold clay sleeps as insensible to our praise and 
grief as the veteran's sword in its scabbard — though 

" He knows not — he heeds not" — and 

" No sound can awake him to glory again" — 

yet such a life is still powerful ; it continues to speak to the world. 
And a fit, a grateful, and a beneficial inquiry is, what does it speak? 
What lessons do its thrilling; trials teach ? What were its great 
characteristics, tendencies, and example ? What do we derive 
from it of good, and what are the private and public obligations to 
its memory, both of ourselves and our posterity? 

Whether we look to his early years, or to their meridian splen- 
dour or their beautiful close, they seem to me equally full of in- 
struction. Without the wealth or powerful connexions, which 
even in republics are sometimes passports to fame, he first appeared 
on the theatre of public action as an orphan. However inauspi- 
cious this may have seemed for that brilliant destiny which after- 
wards awaited him, he soon displayed an energy and perseverance 
in laying the foundations of an education, which are full of en- 
couragement to the most lowly and unfriended. How much was 
his condition at that time emblematic of his country's — both sur- 
rounded by privations and perils — and both, by the exercise of those 
vigorous efforts which deserve success, soon enabled to emerge, 



72 



MONITJTnXT TO JACKSON. 



and, through many adverse gales of fortune, advance to those high 
honours and greatness which have since crowded their career? 

After a hurried preparation for the bar, he soon becomes launched 
into the breakers and storms of professional life. 

Only a few years, spent in the agitating scenes of business, were 
necessary to develope his integrity and genius in such bold relief, as 
to attract that general confidence which paved the path to so many 
responsible trusts. 

His companions at that time have mostly gone before him to a 
better world ; but I have frequently heard the late Judge Anderson 
describe the early appearance at the bar of the future hero and 
president. 

Prominent among his characteristics, were the same inflexible 
fidelity to the interests intrusted to his care, as since — the same 
watchful preparation and modest courage, which marked him in 
the discharge of all duties till the close of his eventful career. 

But the teachings of his meridian life were more conspicuous. 
As the conqueror of the Creeks, the. defender of the Mississippi 
valley, the chief magistrate of a great people, the sun of his fame 
ere long lighted the whole horizon. New scenes constantly de- 
veloped new traits of character ; new trials elevated him still 
higher in popular favour ; new victories, in the cabinet as well as 
the field, crowned him with new laurels from Europe no less than 
America; and, if any man, left among us till the present age, can 
be said to possess a European reputation as a warrior or executive 
officer, it is he who, with raw militia, vanquished veterans flushed 
by foreign triumphs, and who piloted the ship of state safely through 
political storms, that made the stoutest hearts quail. 

These tests of his maturer years were useful, if not necessary, to 
fix his character for patriotism above all suspicion. And the la- 
bours performed in these — often so Herculean — and all the sacri- 
fices made, and tribulations endured, evinced such devotedness in 
duty, and were accompanied by such tried honesty of purpose, that 
many of every party and sect over our wide republic now hasten 
to bestow grateful commendation for those high qualities, however 
differing from him while alive on many points of public policy 
or private belief. How beautifully, in some cases, did the che- 
quered scenes of his middle age ripen what were only natural 
impulses in youth, and mature them into settled principles of ac- 
tion, and impart to them a modified, softened, and moral tone, cal- 
culated to render them useful guides to future generations, and 
leave a deep impress behind on our national character and national 
institutions! 

But, in some respects, still more attractive were the features in 
the last period of his career. The closing scenes of the drama show 
(office and pomp voluntarily relinquished) domestic pleasures and 



EULOGY. 73 

deeds of humble usefulness sought for ; all the tender charities of 
life and neighbourly friendship cherished; religion illustrated in 
his daily walk, as well as professed at the altar; his country still 
near and dear, and her welfare watched over with parental solici- 
tude ; acknowledgments and memorials of respect for benefits con- 
ferred, a daily solace in his retirement ; and troops of friends spared 
to the end, to soften the pillow of declining health : and all bright- 
ened still higher in his departing moments, by the richest hopes 
beyond the grave. 

What a beautiful progress in improvement and usefulness in true 
glory, from the dawn of life to its close ! What a happy destiny 
and example ! And how admirably does the grave, thus closed, 
bury in its bosom most of the enmities and jealousies of a turbid 
life, and tend to harmonize his countrymen in paying just tributes 
to his memory, and in feeling a pride in those high qualities which 
have reflected no less honour on the land of his birth than on him- 
self! 

But there are other aspects of his character very impressive. 

Viewed in some prominent capacities or pursuits, rather than in 
the different stages of life, his destiny has been no less interesting, 
and is more familiar to the minds of most of us. Some have been 
accustomed to contemplate him as a soldier, others as a statesman, 
and a few as a man, without regard to station. Though little is 
usually said of private character in connexion with public benefac- 
tors, I have no doubt, from a long acquaintance with General Jack- 
son, that he felt much more solicitude as to his independence, 
worth, and standing as a man, than for all the honours ever lavished 
on him by a grateful people. Yet such is the structure of society 
— such the eclipsing tendency of public life, that he has long been 
known over most of the globe as a successful soldier, and appre- 
ciated highly by millions as a statesman, without much inquiry as 
to those great principles which he had nourished in retirement, and 
which fitted him so ably for public usefulness. But it was those 
principles, and the habits formed by those — and not, as many sup- 
pose, accident or fortune — which afterwards insured to him victo- 
ries in the field, and wreathed his brow with civic laurels. Hence 
his example is so much more to be venerated and transmitted to 
coming generations for emulation and encouragement. Starting in 
life with a few strong natural endowments, everything beside was, 
with him, self-made. It was he himself that improved what God 
had bestowed or placed near him. It was his practical sense that 
seized on all the opportunities which occurred for instruction, 
however few and fleeting, and made the most of the agitating cir- 
cumstances amidst which his lot in life was cast. It was his idea 
of moral obligation, that made him patiently study his duties, till 
inspired with confidence in himself; and then be so firm in their 
7 



74< MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

performance, as to inspire confidence in others; and, in short, after 
being indefatigable to ascertain what was right, to feel no less bound 
to enforce it, and " dare do all which may become a man," whether 
for himself, his friends, or his country. A character thus formed, 
is of course subject to human frailties, and, in some respects, more 
so than one nurtured in early life amidst superior advantages from 
education and associates, who had also enjoyed and improved such 
advantages. I say this, because indiscriminate eulogy is not worth 
the breath that utters it. But, at the same time, a man, when 
reared like him, amidst the agitation and perils of a revolution, 
sooner learns to buffet well the tempests of life, and, like a tree 
blown upon by violent winds, strikes root deeper, and is better 
braced to encounter responsibility and danger of every kind, and 
bis opinions are stronger, as well as adhered to with greater 
tenacity. 

Another trait in his private character, not unusual in vigorous 
intellects, though apparently so opposite to the current of their 
ordinary feelings, was respect and attachment to female worth. 
This was doubtless increased in him, from early dependence on a 
widowed mother, and from endearing associations connected with 
her watchfulness and devotion to the improvement of his youth. 
This watchfulness is a most salutary restraint, often substituted by 
Providence in the place of a father's hardier power; and, when it 
is not always successful in preventing excesses or errors amidst the 
numerous temptations of early life, it often excites remorseful re- 
membrances, and wins back to duty an erring child. 

His wife, while dead as well as living, he regarded almost as a 
guardian angel. Her miniature was worn near his heart in health, 
and reposed with his Bible by his sick couch. Well do I remem- 
ber, while walking with him once among the tombs of the distin- 
guished dead in the congressional burying-ground, whither we had 
gone to pay the last obsequies to another of their number, he said : 
" One solemn request I now urge on you : should I die in this city, 
remove my ashes to Tennessee, and let them sleep beside my be- 
loved wife." 

Thank God ! his fond wishes on this subject nave oeen realized : 
and they do sleep together under the shades of the Hermitage, as 
they hoped to rise together at the resurrection of the just. 

His tenderness of sentiment extended to her relatives, and, being 
without children to absorb a portion of it, all his friends came in 
for a larger share. When once satisfied of their worth, he clung 
to them with an iron grasp ; and it became almost a passion of his 
life to reward their attachment. If at times he was thus betrayed 
into kindness unmerited, the disposition on his part Avas always 
noble — not only seeking to repay obligations with his purse and 



Woodbury's eulogy. 75 

pen, but earnest, on any fit emergency, even to lay down his life 
for his friends. 

In performing that, or any other supposed duty, it would be too 
feeble to say he was brave. He was the bravest of the brave. 
Whether in the horrors of Indian warfare, to which he was in 
some degree inured from childhood, or in conflict with the disci- 
plined troops of Europe, or in personal jeopardy from the assassin's 
ball, or in scenes of civil strife, the same dauntless intrepidity marked 
his course, often accompanied by what is more rare on such occasions 
— coolness of judgment and great self-possession. 

I stood once by his side when his life was assailed : and scarce a 
pulse would beat after the attack was perceived, before he rushed 
on his foe, alike regardless of danger, and mindful of the means 
best suited to punish the aggressor. 

With whatever correctness he may, at times, have been charged 
with rashness, under the feverish impulses of youth, it is certain 
that his judgment seldom forsook the helm in advanced life, and 
under the highest provocation: in the very tempest of his passion, 
he was remarkably wary and watchful. And, however ardent, or 
even vehement, in what he deemed a good cause, his faculties 
were usually collected, and his bearing firm. Mingled with this 
true courage, he possessed, at the same moment, rare modesty and 
sensibility. Singular as the combination may seem, yet it is not 
new in history. 

When existing, it shows, in a more elevated light, that strong 
conviction of duty which is able to impel men, even of retired 
habits and delicate feelings, to overcome them all. and hazard life 
itself in defence of what is considered right. One illustration 
occurs to me, which, at the time, astonished some of the less ob- 
serving, as to the mysterious workings of our common nature. 
When Congress caused swords to be presented to several officers, 
who had signally distinguished themselves in the last war with 
England, some received them with coolness, and replied to the 
addresses made on the occasion without emotion. But the great 
captain, who had saved a city from being sacked, and its daughters 
from pollution, and who had never blenched nor trembled before 
an enemy, shook like an aspen leaf, though surrounded by friends, 
and could with difficulty give utterance to his gratitude. We all 
remember also, that in the heat and bitterness of party strife, re- 
proaches were sometimes cast on him for a supposed want of proper 
sympathies for the rest of mankind. But, in truth, few men pos- 
sessed more humane feelings. In the privations of war, he divided 
with the famishing soldier his last loaf; the decrepid beggar never 
left his roof hungry ; his domestics shared his attention in sickness 
and health, weeping loudest around his bier ; and he was always 
found a neighbour to the needy, and a succour to the oppressed. 



76 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

The elements were all kindly mingled in his breast, and the scenes 
he most longed for, and enjoyed with the highest relish, were those 
of quiet and well-ordered industry among attached friends in rural 
employment, and amidst deeds of humble usefulness and unostenta- 
tious benevolence. How often, when surrounded by all the splen- 
did honours of public life, have I heard him sigh for the Hermitage, 
and plan improvements and enjoyments to be carried out amidst its 
tranquil scenes ! 

I am aware, likewise, that both friends and foes have bestowed 
on him another characteristic — of being a man of iron will. When 
this is meant to imply hardness of heart, nothing could be further 
from the truth ; since no child, at the sight of suffering, overflowed 
quicker with the milk of human kindness than the stern-visaged 
warrior. But when it means that his sense of duty was strong, and 
stronger even than his feelings, the term may not have been mis- 
applied. 

His iron will was mere firmness or inflexibility in the cause he 
deemed right. It was an indomitable resolution to carry out what 
conscience dictated. Judgment and the fruits of it, opinion and 
corresponding conduct, it seemed to him, ought to be inseparable. 
He knew of no compromise or tampering, or half-way measures, 
with what was wrong. This high moral tone- — the very highest in 
the annals of reformers and martyrs the world over — though often 
imputed to him as a fault, was, in fact, the crowning glory of his 
character, whether as a man, or a warrior, or a politician. So far 
from its having proved inconsistent with seeking full advice, and 
weighing contradictory reasons, and adopting measures of concilia- 
tion, where justifiable and wise, it was generally preceded by the 
amplest inquiries and the most careful deliberation. But a con- 
clusion having been once formed in this manner, the whole powers 
of his mind and heart were flung into its execution with almost 
resistless energy ; and then, in fortitude to resist opposition, and in 
courage to brave all difficulties, and inflexible perseverance to carry 
out measures deemed right, he may well have been called a man 
of iron — a man of destiny, or the hero of the iron will. Nor did 
this habit, as some have imagined, make him implacable or unfor- 
giving. For, though like others of a warm temperament, making 
good haters, as well as good lovers and friends, he often forgave his 
bitterest enemies, and reconciled differences by many deemed in- 
superable. His custom of assuming responsibility in doubtful cases, 
has been another topic of criticism, but was only a branch of this 
energetic trait of character. Blessed with clear perceptions, and 
careful habits of research, he came to more decisive conclusions, 
and in less time than most other men ; and hence it became his 
duty, under these stronger convictions, to follow them out, and, 
with a manly daring in behalf of what seemed to him right, to act 



Woodbury's eulogy. 77 

for that right, and act with energy and without fear, whoever else 
might falter. This, instead of being culpable, seemed at times, 
amidst fainting and doubting hearts around him, heroic; and if evil 
was ever connected with it, such a result usually sprung from a 
defect in forming some opinion, and not in exhibiting the courage 
and want of hypocrisy to stand by it chivalrously to the last, when 
not conscious of error. 

His whole walk in private life having been grounded upon prin- 
ciples and habits like these, it is not strange that, in obedience to 
his country's summons, entering on t ! .-> great theatre of public 
action, he should carry with him wha> iud chiefly qualified him 
for public usefulness. There, to many j - viously not familiar with 
him, those principles and habits became t > t unfolded ; and as he was 
there, ere long, "the observed of all ol -- rvers" — there let us fol- 
low the further developement and application of them during the 
few moments that remain to dwell on his virtues and glories. 

His first public duty in behalf of his country was as a youthful 
soldier — unknown to fame — to defend her liberties in the field. 
His last one was to lay down her highest honours, and withdraw 
to the shades of private life, with the blessings of millions for his 
toils and sacrifices. His earliest efforts took a military direction — 
probably more from the necessities and perils of the times, than 
from any taste for it, which then inspired him. Continuing after 
peace to live somewhat exposed in a frontier life to Indian hostili- 
ties, military habits were formed, and traits of character developed, 
in feats of arms which, in other conditions of society, might have 
appeared only in conquering professional difficulties, or a stubborn 
soil. The qualities of mind to insure success in either may be 
much the same ; and yet accident or necessity may make one pos- 
sessed of them merely a successful farmer, and another a military 
chieftain. But at no period of his life was General Jackson a 
soldier of fortune, or trained in the regular schools of war. Hence, 
in the busiest portions of his service in the field, he was still, at 
heart and in grain, the citizen, the planter, the lawyer, bred in 
courts rather than camps, fond of agriculture and politics, and 
never considered a life in arms either as a profession or a choice. 
Whatever gorgons, then, jealousy or rivalship may ever have con- 
jured up, as to the danger of his becoming a military despot, and 
turning his sword, like Csesar, or Cromwell, or Napoleon, against 
the liberties of his country, there was no foundation in his educa- 
tion or tastes for fears like these. The instruments which he had 
been accustomed to employ were also alike unfit to accomplish such 
perfidy. So far from being disciplined legions, whose trade was 
war, or mere pretorian bands, to sell the people to the highest 
bidder, they also were citizen soldiers. They were farmers and 
mechanics, with their sons, fresh from the plough and the work- 
7* 



78 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



shop — accustomed to the rifle chiefly as hunttrs, and taught to 
wield them to defend, not destroy, liberty ; and, as an armed peo- 
ple, to punish, rather than encourage, usurpation. Another con- 
sequence, bordering almost on the marvellous, results from these 
circumstances. Considering his original pursuits to have been in 
civil life- -considering his want of scientific education in military 
affairs — considering he never made arms a profession, and that his 
troops consisted usually of militia, his skill and success as a soldier 
seem to have been much the more remarkable and more productive 
of the general admiration he excited. At the Horseshoe Bend, he 
forced breastworks as intrepidly as Charles the Twelfth or Suwarow. 
In several other Indian campaigns, he surmounted obstacles, en- 
dured privations, and fed on acorns with his men, as patiently as 
Hannibal. 

Afterwards, little as had been his experience with disciplined 
armies or the science of war, he defended New Orleans with skill 
beyond the ablest engineers, and in all his campaigns exhibited 
vigilance equal to his bravery ; and was as tireless as vigilant, and 
never hesitated at what the public safety seemed to demand, on 
account of any risk or danger to himself, however great. His 
private fortune was more than once pledged to raise public supplies, 
and he faced both imprisonment and fines rather than leave any 
opening, in the absence of martial law, for an enemy still linger- 
ing on our shores, to succeed either by perfidy or surprise. 

It was a most grateful solace in his declining years to receive 
back from the government of his country the penalty then extorted 
from him. And the more so, as, like a good citizen, he had paid 
it peacefully in compliance with judicial forms, though surrounded 
by a victorious army and thousands of munificent and faithful 
friends. But the danger being over, and the time past for the laws 
to be silent among arms — leges silent inter arma — instead of cross- 
ing the Rubicon against his country like Csesar, or instead of driv- 
ing out, like Cromwell and Napoleon, the members of the halls of 
legislation at the point of the bayonet, he soothed popular excite- 
ment, exhorted to obedience, and himself stood forward, foremost, 
to preserve the reign of order and law. The pencil and the can- 
vass are yet to do justice to that great scene. If less brilliant than 
the victories which preceded it, nothing in his whole splendid 
career transcends it in true grandeur or salutary influence. 

In a hurried allusion to some of his military excellencies, we 
ought not to overlook the rapidity and suddenness, no less than the 
boldness of his movements. I have often heard him say that the 
unexpected attack made on the 23d of December, contributed 
greatly to the triumph of the glorious Sth of January. 

In the former, as in some of his forced marches on the Indians, 
he fell among the enemy almost literally as the thunderbolt of 



Woodbury's eulogy. 79 

war ; and if a complete panic Avas not the result, there were fear- 
ful disheartening, confused councils, fatal procrastination, and a 
foreboding of disaster, that helped much to produce what it 
dreaded. 

Again : his vigilance, and care, and industry in preparing for 
action, were unequalled, and did much to command the success 
which they so richly deserved. He acted as if nothing was done, 
while anything useful remained undone. He not only directed 
everything, but, if possible, watched its execution. His physician, 
when we were once together examining the battle-field near New 
Orleans, observed that the general, though labouring under disease 
on the night before the 8th, and a fit subject for the hospital, re- 
fused medicine, and visited almost every portion of the line in per- 
son, to insure the most perfect preparation for the coming conflict. 
Thus, while many supposed that mere animal courage won his 
victories, or that personal bravery did all to turn the scales, it will 
be seen that conduct as much as courage — that preparation, fore- 
sight, care, were, under Providence, his constant reliance ; and 
that, without these, he never confided in mere impulses or naked 
force. 

He was also fertile in resources, and his breastworks of cotton- 
bags will be as durable in history as the rocks of the Alps scaled 
by the bold Carthaginian. 

But, in all these observations, it will be seen that I dwell more 
on the capabilities he discovered to become a great military chief- 
tain, than on acquirements he never claimed, or acts he never 
aspired to. 

A long training in the art of war — like Wellington, for instance 
— he had not enjoyed, nor many thousands, like Frederick the 
Great, seen slaughtered in numerous pitched battles ; nor sieges of 
walled cities, frequently prosecuted till sacked, like Constantinople, 
or buried in their ruins, like Tyre. He himself wished to wear no 
laurels but those he won. 

In wearing those, he wore enough to satisfy the true ambition of 
any one. He wore, the world over, the renown of defeating Bri- 
tish veterans with raw militia. He wore, from home, the grati- 
tude of thousands of frontier settlers, for the cradles of their chil- 
dren rescued from the scalping-knife. He wore the heartfelt 
blessings of millions west of the Alleghanies, secured from ruthless 
foreign invasion by his energy, and skill, and indomitable courage. 
He wore, in fine, the richest rewards of a whole country saved from 
disgrace, and a whole country elevated and honoured by his heroism 
and glory. Who that recalls the vivid scenes of those days gone by, 
near a third of -a century ago, when millions of aching eyes with 
aching hearts looked in almost breathless silence for the next advices 
from New Orleans, but must feel with renovated force, since his de- 



80 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

cease, all we then felt at the first joyful tidings of his great victory ? 
Patriotic age then shed tears of exultation, as when American liber- 
ties were sealed and secured by the surrender at Yorktown, to the 
great chieftain of the Revolution. Youth, ardent and impulsive, 
then cheered his name as a second Washington, a second saviour of 
their country ; and female thankfulness, under almost every roof, 
however lowly, invoked blessings on his head, or, like the nuns of 
St. Ursula, moved in solemn procession, to offer in public a Te 
Dei/m for both the victory and the victor. 

When, in later years, some have expressed surprise at such a 
strong popular feeling, as usually attended his progress through the 
country, and at the almost boundless empire his opinion exercised 
over the masses, and at the demonstration of mourning over the 
whole nation, exhibited since his death, showing how strongly and 
long he lived in the hearts of the people, they can hardly have re- 
called the stirring scenes of the close of the last war, and the deep, 
deep impress on the whole country, made by them no less than his 
subsequent career in political life. The tide became resistless in 
favour of his pure patriotism, his honesty of purpose, and more 
than Roman devotedness to the honour and welfare of his country. 

Passing over further allusions to his military character, a few ad- 
ditional words in relation to that political life, and my imperfect 
review of his services will be closed. Some, who concede to him 
almost unmeasured praise as a soldier, have been loth to admit he 
possessed any great superiority as a statesman. Nor is this extra- 
ordinary, when the occupations of the camp in a country like this, 
are, or ought to be, in a great measure, disconnected with party 
strife, while the politician lives in that strife as one of his most 
exciting elements. Another reason is, that friends in such strug- 
gles are apt to be as much too lavish in commendation, as enemies 
are too stringent and unyielding. 

Rut when, as now, the curtain of life has fallen on one who kept up 
a thrilling interest in the public mind to the last, and was considered 
by the great author of the Declaration of Independence to have 
filled the measure of his country's glory near a third of a century 
ago — it is time that the prejudices of party should soften. The 
death of so much greatness and glory, warning us with new force, 

" What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue," 

should induce human charity to revise any harsh opinions formed 
under circumstances less auspicious. 

In taking the dimensions of any statesman among us, it is to be 
remembered, in the outset, that we have no separate education or 
training for that career of public life. The equality of our means, 
as well as rights and institutions, tends likewise to forbid much of 
that signal superiority in a few individuals, which may sometimes 



woodjsury's eulogy. 81 

occur elsewhere amidst inherited rank and inherited wealth. But 
that any man could here start early in a profession, could be ad- 
vanced to its first honours at the bar, and next, to the bench itself, 
could ere long represent his district in the halls of Congress, and 
next, the growing state itself, which knew his worth best — that 
such a man could finally be promoted to the very highest station in 
the gift of a great people, and, after one trial, again be elected 
almost by acclamation, can hardly be reconciled with the idea of 
his not possessing some of the very best materials which exist here 
to form a useful statesman. But, in saying this, who of his discreet 
admirers ever wished to claim for him — what he himself was the 
last man to tolerate as deserved — any deep researches into the wri- 
tings of political economists, or that wide range of historical read- 
ing which sometimes instructs, no less than it adorns. Could his 
dust speak from the grave to the thousands now engaged in draw- 
ing the leading traits of his character, his sturdy honesty would 
say, as Cromwell did to Lely, the artist : " Paint me as I am ; 
leave not out the scars or the wrinkles." 

Looking, then, to his real worth in political life, and bringing 
him to the standard which will ever prevail in a government like 
ours, all must admit that he ranks high, independent of the trap- 
pings of office, and was in many qualities among the very fore- 
most. And why should he not have been % What was there in 
his genius or habits which unfitted him for usefulness in the public 
councils 1 He had been endowed, by nature, with a strong intel- 
. lect. Active habits were formed on this early in life. He began 
his career when all the great principles of government and human 
rights were the theme of every tongue, and the subject of much 
thought and study, as well as discussion. He entered the arena, 
not only as a citizen, ardent in the cause of securing those princi- 
ples and rights, but ere long as an officer, to expound, and aid in 
the administration of, the very government he had fought to defend. 

He helped to develope all the great questions then in contro- 
versy, and establish necessary guards in forming and adopting some 
of the new constitutions. Rapidly he is advanced, and enters on a 
more enlarged sphere, to witness and participate in some of the 
struggles of principle, under the elder Adams, in which were in- 
volved several of the most difficult questions of power and con- 
struction that ever arose between a free people and their represent- 
atives, and between sovereign states and their own confederacy. 

Indeed, his whole life may be considered as spent in a practical 
school of politics ; the intervals devoted to arms being brief and 
rare, and often mingled somewhat with the political agitations of 
the day. Beyond all this experience in such matters, aided by 
some current reading on the questions involved, he was a man of 
most observing habits, not skimming the surface, but probing every- 



82 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

thing around him to the bottom, and, with an eagle-gaze, looking 
quite through the deeds of men. He was also a patient listener 
till his opinions were formed. Counsel was invited from all proper 
quarters ; and, instead of acting in difficulties headlong, or without 
reflection, he gave many hours to retired thought, when the crisis 
would permit, and was sagacious in detecting fallacies, shrewd in 
respect to consequences, and familiar with the bearing of most 
measures on the real affairs of life. Added to this, he was a most 
thorough and constant reader of our great political bible — the con- 
stitution of the Union. It was his faithful companion by night 
and by day. 

But, surpassing many of these excellencies for usefulness in the 
chair of state, he possessed, beyond most other men that ever 
graced high stations, decision of character. In the multitude of 
doubts and questions which must be adjudged in such a position, 
and the difficult selection of agents, obliged to be made to execute 
the laws, vacillation and indecision are often fatal. Besides this 
controlling quality, his long intercourse with men in active life had 
enabled him to discriminate and judge exceedingly well of charac- 
ter; and though at times misled by too great confidence in his 
friends, he never failed to correct mistakes when discovered, how- 
ever painful to his sensibilities, and however it might rupture the 
attachments cherished for many years. Indeed, in the chair of 
state, under the solemnities of his official oath, and the instructions 
of the people and the states, through the constitution, he felt bound 
to let the public interests ride over every other consideration. He 
carried also with him, into that high post, the same sleepless vigi- 
lance he had practised in the camp — the same stirring assiduity in 
preparation in every emergency. 

In addition to this, he had an abhorrence of all fraud and hypo- 
crisy. It seemed in him instinctive and unconquerable. All was 
manly, aboveboard, straightforward, as well in his negotiations 
abroad as in the domestic dissensions he encountered at home , and 
this disposition, cultivated and practised long in private life, w r as 
found to be no less honourable to himself and his country, through 
his long public career. This it was that won for him so much re- 
spect and such remarkable success in his foreign intercourse — aided, 
to be sure, b}' a knowledge of his high decision of character and 
great fearlessness in the discharge of every duty. The indemnities 
he thus obtained — under a resolution neither to take nor do wrong 
— not only poured many millions of wealth into the country, of 
which it had long been pillaged, but strengthened the government, 
and inspired forbearance abroad in future. The most signal instance 
of the force of these qualities at home, and the devotedness of all of 
them to the welfare of his country, was that great occasion when all 
his energies were summoned to execute the laws, under anticipated 



Woodbury's eulogy. 83 

resistance, even against his native state and the most devoted friends 
of his maturer life. But he no more hesitated in that crisis to tread 
what seemed to him the path of duty, than did the Roman Brutus 
in respect to his own son. 

The country became more and more confiding, under such trials, 
in his high moral sense of duty, no less than his patriotism and 
courage ; and the success with which he encountered and defeated 
difficulties in the cabinet, scarcely less than what he had exhibited 
in the field, gave one of the best assurances that he possessed, in an 
eminent degree, some of the highest qualities of a statesman. His 
labours and triumphs in civil contests seemed almost equal, in ar- 
duousness and number, to some we read of in classical mythology. 
But, instead of being dismayed by their thickening force, he ga- 
thered new strength and confidence from the people at large, under 
every struggle. But the people no more strongly placed their trust 
in him than he in them. And it was often a maxim on his lips, 
no less than a guide to his administration, that, under our system 
of government, no abiding trust could be placed except in the peo- 
ple. If they had not virtue and intelligence and firmness enough 
to meet any emergency, nothing was safe ; but if they, being the 
source of all political power, justified and stood by him, all was 
safe ; and, when thus supported, he carried through vetoes tri- 
umphantly, against the interests and opinions of many friends, no 
less than foes : he sustained force-bills against the voices of states 
most devoted to his election; he strangled formidable coalitions, 
and foiled, or crushed, with unsurpassed firmness, the worst politi- 
cal panics and the most monopolizing combinations. 

In all these struggles of civil life, a much higher species of 
courage is necessary than on the battle-field, as no trumpet, drum, 
or cannon stirs the blood, no standard floats in the breeze to ani- 
mate the drooping spirit ; but it is a moral firmness, a martyr's 
devotion to duty, which must usually sustain, encourage, and tri- 
umph. Besides that, he had another ally in every crisis. It seemed 
almost peculiar to his physical as well as intellectual organization, 
that excitement became one of its elements, and exertion often 
appeared to invigorate rather than weary. 

A mind like his frequently serves to wear out the body, or, like 
a canker, to eat into the heart, and cause premature decay. But 
with him it seemed a necessary stimulant to preserve the body, to 
rouse its enfeebled or fatigued forces, and keep up action enough to 
continue life. He hardly appeared even to desire any more than 
need relaxation. Though not insensible to the calls and charms of 

O # . i 

social intercourse, he could scarcely be said to indulge in any plea- 
sures. And it is a remarkable fact that, while on his northern tour, 
in the summer of 1833, when festivities, and joy, and triumphal pro- 
cessions, waited on his progress over half the Union, he spent many 



84- MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

laborious hours, stolen from company, and sleep, and sickness, in 
some of the most complex and difficult business that ever engrossed 
his public attention. It will readily be seen that no station, near 
such a man, was a sinecure. He justly held that a public servant 
owed all his time, as well as energies, to the public. He tolerated, 
as to this, no plausible excuses or compromises, or metaphysical dis- 
tinctions. While anything useful remained to be done, his motto 
was — onward — onward — work — work — work. 

Though it was no holiday affair to fill office as he filled it, 
whether looking to himself or those around him — though requiring, 
as well as practising, all the watchfulness of an Indian ambuscade, 
all the vigour, at times, of a forced march to surprise an enemy, all 
the zeal of a missionary of the Cross, yet his active temperament or 
military training, apparently so inconvenient to others, was mixed 
up with a courtesy of manner and kindly consideration of what was 
due to real infirmity ; so that in nothing was he more striking than 
in all the feelings of a gentleman. He had been formed in that 
Revolutionary school of politics which added the politeness of the 
French to the solidity of the English, or the manner of the La 
Fayettes and Rochambeaus to the strength and intelligence of the 
Burgoynes and Cornvvallises. He exacted nothing which he did 
not reciprocate ; he respected in others all that he asked for him- 
self; and every candid observer soon felt that, however severe his 
course may at times have seemed at first, yet, in the end, he carried 
out only that Chesterfieldian as well as Christian injunction, to do 
to others (is you would be done by. 

Such was his ease in general society, and so delicate his atten- 
tions to female excellence, that many, who never met him else- 
where, concluded at once he was more of a courtier, or man of the 
world, than suited for the conflicts of camps, and parties, and af- 
fairs of state. But nothing was farther from truth. The moment 
over, that had been demanded by social usages or the forms of 
fashion, his whole soul was in his business; and nothing personal 
or amusing could ever tempt him into the slightest neglect or 
abandonment of public duty. Never was he bigoted or exclusive 
in anything. He was public-spirited in all ; nor did any Vandal 
spirit, however imputed, ever mark his opinions or deeds, even in 
the fiercest ravages of war or the bitterest excitements of politics; 
and however the great exigencies of public life may have forced 
him at times into action and responsibility when others doubted or 
halted, all his risks were for his country ; all the dangers braved 
were intended to protect the people and the public safety. 

That he should have been infallible in all this, none pretend ; 
but that he meant well, and, in the main, did well, and as a whole 
performed noble service to his country, none can deny. If to err 
is human, then, if the light of the sun itself be not without some 



Woodbury's eulogy. 85 

shades intermingled — can we, taking him all in all, be otherwise 
than proud of his rank as a man, a soldier, and a statesman? 
Whether on the Thames or the Ganges — under the tent of the 
Arab or in marble palaces, it is a distinction to be known as one of 
his countrymen. Compared with the renowned of other ages and 
other continents, all America may justly boast of him as a produc- 
tion creditable to the New World. Humanity itself becomes digni- 
fied, when man lives up to the height of his powers and his destiny. 
Though some have regarded him as only a meteor in our horizon, 
yet so far from that, he will live as a fixed star in history — one of 
the master minds of the age, carefully formed and practical in his 
efforts, and worthy the pages of future Plutarchs for many genera- 
tions to come. The justice of this conclusion will strike us more 
forcibly, if we notice the contrast between his course and that of 
many inscribed high on the rolls of past ages ; his whole life de- 
voted to defend the liberties of his country, rather than like others 
to break them down ; the passion of his heart to uphold rather than 
to overturn its constitution and laws, friends and power risked to 
preserve unimpaired the sacred ties of its union, the sceptre of 
state relinquished, and, like the humblest citizen, retiring to his 
farm, instead of striving, like many, to usurp authority, or prolong 
the pomp and pageantry of office. 

In fine, he neither enriched himself by plunder or peculation, 
nor engrossed office for his family, nor waged a moment's war for 
ambition or conquest; nor exercised a single new power, nor be- 
trayed an old one, nor filled station an hour but from the will of 
the people, or in conformity to the charter of their liberties. What 
to such a man, in sterling worth, are the Cresars and Napoleons and 
Santa Anas of history? and what is the value of their bad example, 
contrasted with the fidelity and patriotism of his, to guide the 
youth of all coming ages in the cause of public liberty and public 
virtue 1 How admirably were his qualities suited to render him a 
fit statesman for the stormy and responsible dangers of a republic! 
and how the instinct of our people detected, and appreciated, and 
honoured such qualities while living, and lament them when de- 
parted ! Who can say that such a man was not raised up by a kind 
Providence for our national security in peace, no less than war ? 
And while a nation bedews with tears the green turf where lie 
sleeps, it is not sorrow without hope ; for who can doubt that the 
same guardian power which has shielded us heretofore through the 
Washingtons and Jacksons, the Jeffersons and Franklins, that crowd 
the bright galaxy of our history, will raise up other worthies, and 
train them suitably to meet every peril which may menace us ? 

Whatever may be the combinations of civil thrones abroad, or 
whatever the jealousy and injustice sometimes excited at home 
against those who are true to the cause of popular rights and free 
8 



8G MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

governments, as opposed to despotisms and monopolies and arbitrary 
dominion of all kinds— the past is full of hope for the future, and 
inspires the same confidence concerning the salvation of the re- 
public, as was felt by him about his own in the shades of the Her- 
mitage, when h s purified spirit bade his countrymen its last fare- 
well? When, in that solemn hour, all his trophies were laid lowly 
at the foot of the Cross, how joyful, even more than solemn, was 
such a close to the great drama of his existence on earth ! Hal- 
lowed by what lofty consolations ! Animated by what near re- 
unions to all he had loved most in life ! Sustained by what trusts 
on high! Grateful to what millions, for what confidence and 
honours below ! Charmed by what prospects of enlarged and en- 
larging greatness to the country that gave him birth, and glory, 
and rest to his ashes ! His last words were said to have been — 

"I have finished my destiny on the earth; and it is better that 
this worn-out frame should go to rest, and my spirit take up its 
abode with my Redeemer." 

If a o-ood close of life be its crowning excellence, his was one 
of the most fortunate that has fallen to the lot of humanity. Long 
will the memory of such a man be cherished by an admiring world ; 
and long, very long, may it live in the hearts of his countrymen, 
and shed a genial influence over their character and institutions. 
Age and youth, in grateful crowds, till the evening of time, will 
gather around his tomb, recount his patriotism and glories with 
tearful eyes, venerate his virtues, and grow wiser and better by the 
salutary lessons his life inculcates. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT BALTIMORE, JULY 1, 1845, 



BY 



Gen. BEN J. C. HOWARD. 



Fellow-Citizens : — Penetrated with a most profound sense of 
the unusual importance of the present occasion, of the solemnity 
and universality of the public feeling which has given birth to this 
vast and imposing assemblage, and impressed with a deep convic- 
tion of the magnitude of the services rendered to his country by the 
illustrious man whose death we deplore, and whose memor}^ Ave 
honour, I proceed to address you. In no instance in my life have 
I ever felt such innate shrinking from the performance of a public 
duty. When a nation mourns, the emblems of its grief address 
themselves to the imagination of the beholder, and the task of com- 
bining and concentrating in words the vivid emotions of an intelli- 
gent multitude maybe considered hopeless. Everything around us 
is shrouded in the habiliments of woe. The strains of melancholy 
music fall upon the ear in plaintive sounds, and around me are the 
men most conspicuous for excellence in virtue, for honourable sta- 
tions in society, for talents and character, and all which can dignify 
human nature. Surrounded by all these incentives to stimulate 
imagination, how poor is language when it attempts to catch, and 
embody, and express the feelings which are thus powerfully roused 
into action ! If the speaker were to be actuated by a cold selfish- 
ness, he would abandon his duty in despair. But the occasion calls 
forth the kind and gentle feelings of our nature, and he may well 
throw himself upon the forbearance of an audience predisposed, 
from all these circumstances, to the indulgence of the generous, 
instead of the stern, emotions of the heart. 

In assembling, as we have done, to place upon the records of our 
history, this solemn tribute of respect to the memory of departed 
worth, we find ourselves in an attitude as novel as it is interesting. 
Here are men of all political parties, gathering under the flag of 

(87) 



88 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

the stars and stripes, to lay aside for a short time all differences of 
opinion, and in the name of their common country, for the benefit 
of those who now live, and those who are to come after us, to 
pay a token of respect to the memory of the patriot and soldier, 
Andrew Jackson. It is delightful to witness this union. It is re- 
freshing to the contemplative mind, to look at one of these epochs 
when American citizens can meet around the holy altar of their 
country, laying aside every feeling which could detract from the 
solemnity of the occasion. We are around the bier of one of the 
dead Fathers of the Republic. Though his mortal remains are not 
actually present, the symbol is here. The funeral car, and the 
pall-bearers, and all the insignia of mourning, are present to the 
senses ; and the feelings which press upon me as I contemplate 
these indications of respectful grief, induce me to exclaim, as it 
was once said upon an occasion infinitely more solemn even than 
this: "Put off the shoes from thy feet, for the ground on which 
thou standest is holy." Yes — it is holy ground. . Nothing should 
be felt or said that does not partake of a feeling of awe. Nothing 
should be felt or said which is not calculated to make us purer pa- 
triots and better men. We are told that in the early history of 
Europe, in the eleventh century, during the seasons of Advent and 
Lent, there was a cessation of all private warfare from the evening 
of Thursday to the evening of Sunday in every week. No matter 
how imbittered were the feuds which prevailed — no matter with 
what fierceness private injuries were sought to be redressed at the 
point of the spear and the sword, the warriors of chivalry lowered 
their pennons when the time came for the " truce of God" to pre- 
vail. It was a beautiful institution, established by religious autho- 
rity to mitigate the ferocity of the age. So it is with us on this 
day. Under the dispensation of Providence, whose infinite wisdom 
has suffered no unmitigated evil to afflict those creatures who are 
the constant recipients of his bounty, even the calamity which the 
nation mourns, is not without some compensatory good. We are 
under the "truce of God!" All the banners of political warfare 
are laid aside ; all differences of opinion are merged in the senti- 
ment which fills the bosoms of us all, that he whose life was de- 
voted to a nation's service is entitled to a nation's gratitude. It is 
the perfume of the gathered flower. 

At the foot of this stately column, surmounted by the statue of 
the only human being whose birthday continued to be celebrated 
after his death, where a pure and classical taste has written an ap- 
propriate eulogium by the simple inscription — 

"TO WASHINGTON," 

we can properly assemble to pay respect to the memory of another 
of those men who belonged to what has been beautifully termed 



Howard's eulogy. 89 

the "heroic age," and offer our united testimony of respect to 
Jackson. 

" To George Washington" is upon the column in letters as dura- 
ble as the marble itself. " To Jackson" is upon the hearts of all 
around in letters equally as lasting, because they are upon the page 
of history, to remain until the marble shall crumble into dust. The 
swords of these two men were drawn to oppose the same enemy, 
and may God, in his protecting Providence, grant that whenever 
the drum and trumpet shall again summon to arms the now sleeping 
chivalry of the land, there may be found a third worthy to be asso- 
ciated with Washington and Jackson. 

When I look around me and reflect where it is that I am stand- 
ing, that I am within a few yards of the spot where the gifted 
author of the " Star-Spangled Banner" drew his last breath, I am 
tempted to invoke his genius, and say in his language, as my eye 
rests upon this monument and this celebration, 

Thus be it ever when freemen shall stand 

Between their loved homes and the war's desolation." 

The response in every heart will doubtless be, such ever shall be 
the rewards which a generous people will extend to their patriotic 
defenders. 

The early days of Jackson were passed amongst the scenes of 
the Revolution, where the mature powers of Washington were in- 
cessantly employed; as if, in the highest ranks of patriotism, it 
was necessary for the youthful aspirant after fame to inhale a pure 
spirit from his living predecessor : as if nature, fearful lest the race 
of such men might perish, had directed them to exist in continued 
and unbroken succession. It seems as if the nation had stood ready, 
like a sponsor at the font, with one of its own children, offering 
him as a noviciate, to be trained up in the school of virtue, whilst 
the ripe and finished patriot was yet in the meridian of his use- 
fulness. 

In the camps of the South the youthful Jackson learned that his 
country was to be served through peril and privation of every kind. 
It is not surprising that our nation has turned to the men of the 
Revolution with trust and confidence, for it was solely the impulse 
of a lofty spirit which carried them to the field. They gave every- 
thing to their country ; their country had nothing to give them 
except its approbation, for it was "steeped in poverty to the very 
lips." The man who has struggled through difficulty, and attained 
a station in society, where power, and wealth, and patronage have 
become his own, instinctively turns to the friends of his boyhood 
for an attachment which he knows to be disinterested ; and the 
nation, with the same instinctive feeling, looks back to the days of 
its feebleness and poverty, under an intuitive conviction that the 
8* 



90 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



active friends of the penniless boy are sincere in their attachment 
to the opulent man. But the Revolutionary stock is nearly ex- 
hausted. Only a few hoary-headed lingering remnants are found, 
who, we hope, are awaiting their final summons with the same 
philosophic and religious composure which shed its mild radiance 
over the last hours of Andrew Jackson. 

We must no more expect to place the doctrines of the nation in 
the hands of the same men who rocked it in its cradle. Their 
hands are impotent for every purpose, except that of being raised 
to Heaven to invoke blessings upon their country. A place of 
honour has been assigned in this procession to the officers and sol- 
diers of the Revolution ; but how few have availed themselves of 
it ! According to the figure of the poet, we see them 

"Walk thoughtful on the solemn, silent shore, 
Of that vast ocean they must sail so soon." 

And one by one they go forth in their solitary skiff" and disappear 
from our sight. But their examples, their precepts, their charac- 
ters remain ; and although these are becoming more dim as we 
recede from them in the progress of time, yet they are also becom- 
ing more and more hallowed in the affections of the people. There 
was a hardihood in the characters of the men of the Revolution, 
which we do not see exhibited in those of our day ; but it is only 
because circumstances have not drawn it forth. When Andrew 
Jackson^was a youth, he saw his country ravaged by a powerful 
foe, against whom the intrepid Greene, with his inferior force, was 
scarcely able to stand. The condition of the southern states was 
such as to task to the uttermost the strength of the nerve of every 
one of the inhabitants. There was the daily exhibition of courage 
in its rarest form ; patient, enduring courage, compelled to bide its 
time for a more active display, and wait, amidst hardships and suf- 
ferings, until an approach to an equality in numbers could justify 
an appeal to combat. Surrounded by such men, and living at such 
a period, the spirit of the youth acquired that unbending firmness 
which characterized him in all his after life, in whatever situation 
he was placed. It is not my purpose to utter a biography of Ge- 
neral Jackson. There are few or none present who are not familiar 
with the leading events of his life — and at all events this is not a 
fit opportunity for it. All that I can do will be to touch incident* 
ally upon those parts of it which contributed to form or strengthen 
a character of rare excellence. In the fountains of the Revolution 
he bathed his youthful spirit, and came into active life invigorated 
by their healthy influence; and in the wilds of the West he ac- 
quired that practical turn of thought which led him to look to 
results and to what was to be done, rather than to matters of spe- 
culation. 



Howard's eulogy. 91 

The settlers of the western country were compelled to call into 
activity as much thought for the purpose of building up their poli- 
tical institutions, as physical energy to subdue the wilderness. 
When the savages were conquered and the woods felled, or even 
before this was done, they had to construct a government from the 
foundation stone. It is interesting to contrast the result of their 
labours with the constitutions of the Atlantic states, formed amidst 
the din of arms, with less advantages of study and experience, and 
to see how, in the interval, men's minds had been employed in 
watching the working of political machines. Throughout the 
entire western country, there is evidenced a familiarity with ab- 
stract principles, which our people, when they framed our consti- 
tution, either did not possess or could not carry out. For example, 
in our own Maryland, prejudices were so little controlled by the 
natural principles of justice, and were so enduring in the public 
mind, that it was not until a comparatively recent day that the 
Hebrew was allowed to mingle with his fellow-citizens upon terms 
of perfect equality. The union of church and state had been so 
perfect for half a century before the Revolution, that the builders 
were afraid entirely to remove that pillar of the old edifice, but 
contented themselves with throwing open the avenue of office to 
all Christians of every denomination. But in the West there were 
no old pillars to be removed. Their statesmen imbibed together 
the healthy air of the forest, and the pure principles of liberty, as 
they trod the pathless woods. In their own free hearts they found 
the latent feeling which earned them straight forward in the path 
of building up their sacred institutions. Here it is that we find in 
the character of Andrew Jackson, as well as in many other states- 
men of the West, a vigour and boldness of thought inclining him 
habitually to look to the fundamental principles of the social com- 
pact. It is eminently true of all Americans, that they deal practi- 
cally and familiarly with abstract principles which European phi- 
losophers can do little more than meditate upon in the recesses of 
their closets. But it is, perhaps, more eminently true of the western 
statesmen who have seen society grow up from the green, traced it 
through all its gradations, until the healthy plant has shot forth 
both luxuriant flowers and fruits. The hut in the primitive forest 
was the seed ; a republican government the fruit. These men are 
accustomed to aim at what is practically useful. In the character 
of Jackson, this was a leading trait. No artificial refinements ob- 
scured his clear perception of what was proper to be done, but his 
natural sagacity carried him at once to those conclusions which 
other men work out by a long process of reasoning. His military 
career strikingly illustrates this. When the British troops landed 
near New Orleans, it is probable that the nicest calculations of stra- 
tegy would have dictated an attack upon them on the 23d of De- 



92 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

cember ; but a less firm heart would have hesitated before making 
a night attack upon disciplined troops, with some regulars, but the 
greatest part militia. No one can read the history of that period 
without being convinced that the safety of New Orleans was 
owing to this masterly and decisive movement. It taught cau- 
tion to his enemy, and gained time for himself. But it required 
the highest order of genius to resolve upon it, and the sternest 
courage to execute it.. And yet so little sensible was he of the 
hazard of defeat in this really perilous but necessary adventure, 
that he coolly wrote to the secretary, three days afterwards, 
"As the safety of the city will depend upon this army, it must 
not be incautiously exposed." The battle of the 8th of January 
must for ever stand in military history as a wonder. Well do 
I remember the universal impression which prevailed in our city, 
when the tidings of it first reached us, that some strange error had 
crept into the account, with respect to the disparity of loss on both 
sides. And even now it is a subject of astonishment. They were 
the same British troops who had stormed Badajos and St. Sebas- 
tian's, making their way over fosses filled with the dead, over piles 
of loose stones, through what they called a practicable breach of 
the rampart, and in the face of a disciplined foe. And yet a few 
cotton bales and a slight ditch was found to be an impassable bar- 
rier. What was the cause? It was the cool head, the steady arm, 
the practised aim of the marksmen of the woods, whose aim was 
unerring, and who had caught some of the indomitable spirit of 
their gallant leader. You, my fellow-citizens, those of you who 
were old enough to participate in the events of the da} r , felt an 
intense and peculiar interest in this brilliant achievement. 

At least four of the regiments on the side of the invaders were 
the same which you had yourselves met a few short months be- 
fore, and who, retiring from your city in a sullen spirit of ven- 
geance, had been recruiting their strength for a more desperate 
assault upon what they thought to be a more defenceless place. It 
was a singular coincidence that, with all these unusual causes of 
deep anxiety for the fate of New Orleans, together with the vivid 
recollection of the existing scenes exhibited in an invaded city, it 
was at Baltimore that the news of peace coming from the north, and 
of victory coming from the south, met each other ; and the splendid 
illumination of the 15th of February was a practical demonstration 
that the war had closed in a blaze of glory. But who can speak 
of the 8th of January, 1815, with any hope of suiting his language 
to the swelling theme. It has long since taken its place among 
the very few in the American calendar worthy of a national cele- 
bration. We have but four : the 22d of February, the 4th of July, 
the 12th of September, and the 8th of January. They are now 
consecrated by the universal voice, and he who can add a fifth to the 



Howard's eulogy. 93 

illustrious roll will stamp his own name also for ever upon the 
record of his country's fame. 

The repulse of the British from New Orleans has always, in my 
view, assumed additional importance from an opinion which I have 
entertained and do not see why I should forbear to express. It is, 
that in case of conquest the British government did not intend to 
surrender the city under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, 
providing for a mutual restoration of captured places ; but that the 
ready pliancy of the government of Spain would have easily been 
persuaded to interpose a protest, and set up a claim founded upon a 
compulsory cession of Louisiana to France. The reasons for this 
opinion it is not necessary to state. But it may not be amiss to 
refer to an extraordinary passage in the letter of the British to the 
American Commissioners at Ghent, under date of October 8th, 
1814, in which they say, "His Catholic Majesty was not a party 
to the treaty by which the cession (of Louisiana) was made, and if 
any sanction has been subsequently obtained from him, it must 
have been, like other contemporaneous acts of that monarch, in- 
voluntary, and as such cannot alter the character of the transaction. 
The Marquis of Yrujo, the Minister of His Catholic Majesty at 
Washington, in a letter addressed to the President of the United 
States, formally protested against the cession and the right of , 
France to make it." 

He who thinks that this declaration, so strangely introduced into 
the correspondence, was without a specific object, entertains a dif- 
ferent opinion from myself. 

If my conjecture is right, from what a multitude of embarrass- 
ments did the victory of Jackson free our government? We 
should have had a repetition of the delay in surrendering posts 
which had nearly plunged us into a war with England in the 
second term of Washington, and the peace would have been short- 
lived. 

But it is useless to pursue this subject further. 

Of the subsequent life of General Jackson and his connexion with 
the civil affairs of the country, it is difficult for me to speak in this 
presence. Not one word will I voluntarily utter which may jar 
upon the feelings of a single man in this assembly. Conceding to 
that numerous and respectable part of the nation who opposed the 
measures of his administration, an anxious desire to promote the 
welfare of our common country, I feel that I have a right to claim 
equal honesty of purpose for those who sustained those measures. 
That part of our history has yet to be written. We are too near 
the stirring and exciting scenes through which we have passed to 
divest ourselves of the pride of opinion which belongs to us all, and 
without laying this aside, an impartial judgment cannot be formed. 
Turning our eyes away, therefore, from every point of controversy, 



94 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

let us look upon those subjects where there is no difference of sen- 
timent. There are two portions of the administration of President 
Jackson into which he threw all the vigour of his general charac- 
ter, to the honour and good of his country. I refer to his attach- 
ment to the union of these states, and the preservation of a lofty 
dignity in his intercourse with foreign nations. Upon these two 
points he has left the traces of his footsteps in as indelible impres- 
sions as those where geologists discover the marks of living animals 
even in antediluvian rocks. No future president can disregard 
these landmarks without losing the respect of the American nation 
just in proportion as he swerves from the visible line ; and I will 
venture to say, that since the origin of the maxim inculcated by 
Washington, "In peace, prepare for war," a maxim too little re- 
garded, there has been no sentiment uttered so congenial to the 
spirit and temper of our people as that " whilst we should ask 
nothing but what is right, so we should submit to nothing that is 
wrong." It has already passed into a popular saying, and is en- 
graven in letters of fire upon the hearts of the people. Let our 
rulers take care to ask nothing that is not clearly right ; and if 
they fail in obtaining this, the people, with an unanimous voice, 
will bear them out when they refuse to submit to what is wrong. 
Popular governments are essentially pacific, and Ave may trace the 
continuance of peace for the last thirty years in Europe, more to 
the influence which popular rights and principles have acquired, 
than to any other cause. The age has long since passed away 
when nations could be plunged into the horrors of war in order 
that a king might aggrandize his family by placing his grandson on 
a foreign throne. . But just in proportion as a popular government 
is disinclined to war, is it powerful when its resources are brought 
out. Let me make a passing remark upon this subject. If it 
should be our destiny to be again involved in war, as I suppose it 
must be sooner or later, let your confidence be bestowed upon those 
legislators only who will effectually call forth the dormant ener- 
gies of the nation. Two examples are before us of the dangers 
which flow from insufficient preparation. 

Washington and Jackson had to exert all their mighty powers to 
avoid being overwhelmed ; and if you ■will not believe these two, 
you would not believe, though one rose from the dead. 

The last few years of the life of Jackson were marked by the 
only useful example which a man can show forth after the work 
of life is done. Always intense in his feelings, he threw into his 
devotional character the same fervour which had marked his 
chequered career, and awaited his final summons with Christian 
hope and resignation. As the twilight closed in around him, the 
evening star of his religious faith shed more and more brilliancy 
upon the darkening scene, until the Christian patriot sunk to sleep. 



Howard's eulogy. 95 

There is but one more trumpet that can rouse the soldier from his 
slumber. May we not hope, when we reflect upon his long life 
spent in the service of his country, that he will appear with his 
five talents in his hand, saying, " Behold, I have gained other five 
over and above;" and that the response will be, " Well done, thou 
good and faithful servant ; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." 

The impression which Andrew Jackson made upon the time in 
which he lived, is agreed by all to have been deep, and its impor- 
tance to be great. But how immeasurably is this importance en- 
hanced by the reflection, that numerous and powerful as the Ame- 
rican people are, we are still in our infancy. There are those 
within the sound of my voice whose eyes will witness the close of 
this century; and in the year 1900, before they taste of death, 
what will be the spectacle exhibited to their gaze 1 I know that 
we are reproached with living always in anticipation, and boasting 
of the greatness which is yet to come. But if we do allow our- 
selves to raise the curtain of futurity, and gaze upon the distant 
prospect, it is only to impress more thoroughly upon our minds the 
conviction that the destiny of unborn millions depends upon us and 
our actions. The course of public events in our day, casts its sha- 
dow or its brightness down the long vista of time, and every im- 
portant step of the government will draw after it a long train of 
consequences which cannot be avoided. 

I could have wished to have said something of the effects which 
the life and character of Jackson are likely to produce upon future 
generations ; but time will not permit. And perhaps, too, the spe- 
culation would be unsuited to the present purpose. What we de- 
sire to accomplish by the ceremonies of this day, is that we may 
all return to our pursuits in life, with our love of country increased, 
and our admiration of excellence stimulated. We have met under 
the conviction that our country belongs to us all, as our common 
property, in the preservation of whose honour every man feels a 
personal interest. It is said that in the peninsular war, individuals 
of the hostile armies met, during the interval of a brief truce, upon 
the banks of a small stream ensanguined by their recent conflict, 
and exchanged friendly greetings while they sought to slake their 
thirst. After the celebration of this day shall be over, and we 
return to the cares and occupations of the busy world, with all its 
differences of opinion, let us not forget that we are bound up in a 
common destiny, whether it be for good or for evil ; that there is 
much, very much, in our public concerns, upon which we have 
only the feeling which belongs to American citizens ; and that 
whenever the occasion shall arise for the children of the family to 
reassemble around the domestic altar, we shall be found ready, 
heart and hand, to sustain our country's cause, and to swear upon 
that altar, " The Union must and shall be preserved." 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT ALBANY, JUNE 30, 1845, 



BY 



JOHN VAN BUREN, 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK. 



Fellow-Citizens : — This country for the last two weeks has 
presented a picture which every philosopher and patriot should 
love to contemplate. On Sunday, the 8th of this month, an 
event occurred in a far distant section of the Union, the announce- 
ment of which, as it passed from quarter to quarter, with the cele- 
rity of communication now so extraordinary, caused a deep and 
mournful sensation in the popular heart, the intensity of which 
was certainly never exceeded in the present century. Courts of 
justice, legislative and municipal bodies in session, or specially 
assembled for the occasion, as the tidings came, gave expression to 
their grief, and immediately adjourned. The chief magistrate of 
the Union, by public proclamation, directed the business of govern- 
ment to be suspended. City followed city in manifestations of sor- 
row. The emporium of our state, unequalled in our young repub- 
lic for its extent, its activity, its enterprise, and its continued strife, 
bustle, confusion of trade, bowed down in sadness and was hushed 
in silence. All ordinary avocations were suspended, and tens of 
thousands of her citizens marched through her majestic streets in a 
funeral procession unexampled in its numbers and in its solemnity. 
Public and private buildings were clad in mourning. Eloquent 
and touching eulogiums were delivered, and everything betokened 
that deep aiiliction had befallen that city. The melancholy intelli- 
gence reaches the capital of our state. The public authorities of 
the state and city exhibit the same feelings of distress, and it is ac- 
companied b} r similar marks of respect and mourning. The mili- 
tary and civic societies — our citizens without distinction of party — 
all ages, sexes, and conditions, assembled to commemorate the event 
by appropriate ceremonies. Universal grief is depicted on the 

(96) 



van bueen's eulogy. 97 

face of the people of the United States — profound sorrow pene- 
trates the popular heart. 

Why are these things so? What event is heralded that causes 
this wide-spread movement ? What mean these funeral ceremo- 
nies, that we have just performed ? What these trappings of woe, 
that meet our eyes at every glance ? Why is the music that we 
have just heard, and which is so capable of moving joy and mirth, 
now so plaintive and so sad? Why am I here, amid many whom 
I am unaccustomed to meet on public occasions, addressing you 
in a strain so unusual, if not unnatural? What universal, per- 
vading, crushing affliction has befallen this country? — what cala- 
mity has befallen this people ? It is, my friends — I see, and feel, 
and know that it is — a national mourning for a nation's loss. 
Andrew Jackson, who has, in an unsurpassed degree, engrossed the 
public attention for the last thirty years — a soldier, whose brilliant 
military exploits are the pride and glory, as they were the noble 
defence, of his country — a statesman, who, through a long, useful, 
and eventful public life, was fully sustained by a large majority of 
the American people. — and a man who had, above all others, the 
merit of attaching to him the warmest regard, and, as some think, 
idolatrous devotion — of an honesty that all must respect, and a sim- 
plicity that a child might love, — Andrew Jackson is dead ! and a 
void is left in the public mind and public heart that we, probably, 
shall never live to see filled. We are only beginning to realize 
this truth. Startled, stunned, bewildered, by the melancholy intel- 
ligence, sufficient time has not elapsed to ascertain the length and 
breadth of the loss we have sustained ;. but the public appreciation 
of it may be gathered from the circumstances to which I have al- 
ready alluded. A stranger to our institutions, and to the character 
of Andrew Jackson, in view of a scene such as I have faintly de- 
scribed, on sight of the assemblage here present to-day, would 
naturally inquire, What high title did the illustrious person hold 
whom you have assembled to honour? Or, as in your country titles 
are unknown, what high station did he occupy at the time of his 
decease? None, sir, none : he was, and had been for eight years, 
a private citizen. Then, perhaps, he was a neighbour? No, sir: 
his residence was distant thousands of miles. But probably he was 
a frequent visiter at your city, and personally well known to the 
inhabitants ? No, sir : I believe he never was in Albany : and pro- 
bably not a tenth of the persons present ever saw him. Was his 
death sudden ? No, sir : every mail for months had been feared a* 
freighted with the tidings of his decease. Then he must have had 
relations dwelling among you, and a long line of the bereaved and 
sorrowing swell this crowd, or suggested this demonstration? Alas! 
no, sir : he had not a single blood relation in the world. Con- 
founded by the peculiarity of these circumstances, he might then 
9 



98 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

suggest that some law had been passed, or some proclamation or 
order issued by some superior power, directing this assemblage and 
ceremony. Still the answer would be, No, sir, no ! this is a spon- 
taneous gathering of the people themselves, to do honour to a pri- 
vate citizen who was a public benefactor ! And you, fellow-citi- 
zens, do right thus to honour the illustrious dead. It is peculiarly 
an American duty. Other countries lavish titles and estates upon 
successful public men, which are transmitted to their descendants} 
pensions are liberally bestowed upon them and their families ; 
splendid monuments are erected to their memories. But, with us, 
the highest title a soldier or statesman can earn, or should wish, is 
that of being his country's benefactor — his richest pension, the peo- 
ple's gratitude — his proudest and most durable monument, to be en- 
shrined in their hearts ; and witnessing, as we do daily, when indi- 
viduals of high standing and character are taken from us by death, 
how rapidly the progress of our several avocations, or the occur- 
rence of more recent and startling events, crowd him from the pub- 
lic recollection, we can appreciate the wisdom and patriotism of 
arresting, even for a day, this current which sweeps the things of 
the present into the oblivion of the past ; of marking the day by 
memorable observances, and dedicating it to mournful reflection. 

By your partiality, fellow-citizens, I have been invited to parti- 
cipate in your proceedings this day. If an elaborate eulogium 
upon the character and virtues of General Jackson had been ex- 
pected, I am sure a speaker would have been selected who had 
cultivated more carefully the grace of oratory. If a minute nar- 
ration of even the stirring events of his extraordinary career had 
been desired, I should have been obliged to ask you to excuse me, 
from want of time for preparation. But such is not my impression 
of either your feelings or expectations. Andrew Jackson needs no 
eulogy. The greatness of character necessarily impresses itself 
upon the age in which it exists. No storied urn, or sculptured 
shaft, or eloquent recital is necessary to fix in the public mind the 
memory of virtues strongly marked. So, too, the deeds of a states- 
man and patriot constitute the history of the country ; they are 
found in elementary books of instruction; they are studied in youth, 
and reperused in mature age, and form a part of the ordinary in- 
formation of our citizens ; or, if too recent to be thus written, 
their bolchu-ss and brilliancy arrest and retain the public attention. 

Nor is this the time or the occasion for anything like a minute 
narrative of the military and civil career of Andrew Jackson. It 
is natural, however, in dwelling upon his memory, to recall his 
appearance and some of the prominent features of his character ; 
a d, in connexion with these, the mind necessarily reverts to a 
lt-w of the incidents of his life. I do not hope, in doing this, to 
buii'j to your attention any novel or unfamiliar facts. It is the 



van buren's eulogy. 99 

pride and boast of his admirers, that the great events of Andrew 
Jackson's life are widely, almost universally known ; and in revert- 
ing to some of them to-day, I should be more properly regarded as 
one of you, sharing in your reflections, and thinking aloud, than, 
as a public speaker, aiming to instruct or enlighten. 

The most striking feature of Gen. Andrew Jackson's character 
was an irresistible energy. No man could be associated, or even 
acquainted with him, without feeling its influence. It pervaded 
even his personal appearance, and made itself felt by his simple 
presence. Above the ordinary height, and spare in person, his 
frame seemed incapable of enduring even slight fatigue ; but his 
erect carriage, firm stride, deep and brilliant eye, emphatic gesture, 
and nervous, sententious mode of speech, denoted a spirit within, 
that no obstacle could repress, no danger appal. His health was 
ever feeble ; and it ma} r safely be said that, from the commence- 
ment of his public services, in 1812, till the day of his death, was 
never twenty-four hours free from pain. But no suffering of his 
body could depress, or even embarrass, the spirit that inhabited it. 
His campaign in 1813-14, against the Creek Indians, furnishes a 
happy illustration of his character. The order that summoned 
him to the Creek war, found him on a bed of sickness. It was re- 
ceived on the 21th of September, 1813. The next day he ordered 
his troops to rendezvous at Fayetteville on the 4th of October. 

On the 7th, he took command in person, and on the 3d of No- 
vember opened the campaign with the fatal blow struck at Talus- 
kahatchee, where 186 Creeks were left dead upon the field. On 
the 7th of November, he met and vanquished over 1,000 Creek 
warriors at Talladega, leaving them to mourn the loss of 300 slain. 

It was then, and ever after, the firm and well-founded belief of 
Gen. Jackson, that he would have gloriously terminated the wur in 
one month, if he had been sustained with men, and supplied as he 
had every reason to expect ; but, abandoned by a portion of his 
men, and reinforcements failing, the campaign was protracted. 
The brilliant resistance at Emuckfaw — the gallant and bloody pas- 
sage at Enotochopco — took place in the month of January, and the 
campaign was closed in a blaze of glory, on the 27th of March, 
by the total rout at Tohopeka, or the Horseshoe, where an en- 
trenched camp, defended by 1 ,000 chosen warriors, was carried by 
storm, 550 chiefs stretched upon the earth, and 300 prisoners taken. 
The Indians then sued for peace ; and, on the 10th of July, an advan- 
tageous treaty was concluded with them, by the brave chieftain 
who had carried terror and destruction through their borders. 

This campaign against the Creeks illustrates most forcibly the 
native vigour of his character, and the fertility of his resources. It 
was undertaken with most limited means — the greater portion of 
the time his troops had not five days' rations at command. It was 



100 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

prosecuted in a distant and savage country, with raw levies of mi- 
litia, against the most warlike of the Indian tribes, in the face of 
mutiny, want, desertion, and panic, by a major-general of militia, 
who had never served in a subordinate rank, and never before com- 
manded in battle. If anything were wanting to exhibit in bold 
relief the splendour of this achievement, it is abundantly furnished 
by the history of subsequent Indian wars. In this history may be 
found many contrasts, but no parallel. 

I shall allude to but one other event in his military career. His 
gallant and successful conduct drew towards him universal atten- 
tion ; and President Madison but conformed to the general expecta- 
tion, by tendering to him, as he did, on the resignation of General 
Hampton, the post of brigadier-general in the army. The resigna- 
tion of General Harrison, shortly after, enabled the president to 
offer him the post of major-general; and the two commissions 
were received simultaneously, and the latter accepted. 

On the 22d November, 1814, General Jackson left Mobile for 
New Orleans, where he arrived on the 1st December. It was 
known that a large British force was on its way to New Orleans. 
The importance of defending that city could not be overrated. 
The troops that were to invade it were flushed with the victories 
of Bladensburg and Washington. Citizens who should have de- 
fended it were strongly suspected of disaffection. Whilst a hostile 
army of tried veterans, strong in numbers, exact in discipline, con- 
fident of success, were advancing in front, the ill-regulated levies 
of militia who were to oppose them were surrounded by the timid, 
the doubtful, and the treacherous. No commander was ever envi- 
roned with greater difficulties — none ever met them with greater 
spirit and success. His wonderful power of inspiring confidence 
in those around him, and the vigour and skill of his movements for 
the defence of the city, soon changed the aspect of affairs. When 
he reached New Orleans, few thought it capable of being defended ; 
in two days after, none thought it susceptible of being taken. 

But it was obvious to General Jackson that success depended on 
a prompt defensive movement — an attack must be made on the 
invading army the instant they landed. In answer to an express 
from General Carroll, whose division had been delayed on its way 
to New Orleans, he said, " I am resolved, feeble as my force is, to 
assail the enemy on his first landing, and perish sooner than he 
shall reach the city." The determination, thus nobly expressed, 
was promptly executed. The British landed on the 23d, fifteen 
miles below New Orleans. The intelligence was communicated to 
Jackson at one o'clock in the afternoon, and the same evening he 
attacked them with his whole disposable force. 

For a most interesting account of this desperate and bloody en- 
gagement, I refer you to the narration of an English officer who 



VAN BUREN'.n ECI.OGY. 101 

was engaged in it, in a work entitled "Campaigns in America, by 
a Subaltern." I well remember his description of the confusion, 
dismay, and death of that eventful night. Commodore Patterson 
commanded a schooner which dropped down the Mississippi, abreast 
of the British line, and anchored. When hailed by their sentinels 
a third time, he said, "Give them this, boys! for the honour of 
America," accompanied by a shower of grape and canister. 

This battle saved New Orleans. It checked the treacherous, 
confirmed the wavering, inspired the true. It was, too, in the 
judgment of the military men, a masterly movement. The enemy 
till then had been unmolested ; they had reason to expect a friendly 
reception; the next day they would have advanced on New Or- 
leans. The night assault on the 23d checked and drove them back 
— it taught them respect for the American arms, and led them to 
over-estimate the number of our forces. Jt came upon them at 
night, in a strange land, unexpected, and when but a part of their 
forces were lauded. It carried confusion and panic into their 
ranks, and dispelled the terror of their invincibility ; and although 
the brilliant victory of the 1st of January, and the total and memor- 
able rout of the 8th, finally expelled the invaders, they but com- 
pleted and perfected what the master-stroke of the 23d had so well 
beo-un. The forces of the British vastly exceeded those of the at- 
tacking party ; and this fact strongly illustrates the natural and 
intuitive skill of General Jackson in the art of war. It was the 
maxim of Napoleon, the great master of this science, that an in- 
ferior force should never wait to be attacked ; for, by advancing, 
they either fall with all their strength on a single point when they 
are'not expected, or meet the opposing columns on the advance, 
when bravery gives the victory — or, in his own nervous language, 
" C'est une affaire de tetes de colonnes aii la bravoure settle decide 
touf." 

There were many points of resemblance between Napoleon and 
Jackson. Both were remarkable for impetuosity : both acted on 
the offensive ; both, in emergencies, hazarded much, if not all, on 
the celerity and success of their assaults: both carried a war into 
the heart of an enemy's country : both were celebrated for rapidity 
and exactness of combination; both startled their adversaries by 
sudden and unlooked-for attacks. There was a similarity even in 
the impassioned, sententious, and sanguine appeals of both to their 
respective armies ; and both attained signal and brilliant success. 
But, fortunately for our country, and for him whose fame we 
cherish, the points of difference are equally striking. Napoleon 
aimed at the conquest of a world, and would have established a sole 
monarchy, if not despotism; his restless ambition knew no goal 
short of universal dominion; and, after overrunning, with his suc- 
cessful armies, a great part of the globe, he was driven from his 



102 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

kingdom and his throne, confined in a solitary and remote island, 
and his uncontrollable spirit fretted itself out against the bars of the 
prison. Jackson drew his sword only at his country's call ; it was 
never wielded but in defence of her soil, her rights, and liberties ; 
he sheathed it but to return to the bosom of his family and the 
pleasure of domestic life ; he was attended always by the grateful 
plaudits of a people whose liberties he had defended, and, after re- 
ceiving the highest honours of the republic, his last days were 
cheered with the sight of a country's prosperity, to whose service 
his life had been devoted, and he is followed to the grave by a 
nation of mourners. 

Fellow-citizens : I have thus far spoken exclusively of the mar- 
tial conduct of the illustrious deceased. A few of the marked 
events of his life have been referred to as illustrating it. He had 
other traits of character, which drew to him a large share of the 
public attention and regard ; and, in referring to them, I may inci- 
dentally advert, in some degree, to portions of his public and pri- 
vate life, which have been the subject of angry discussion. I do 
so in no spirit of party. I shall even seek to forget that his great 
name was ever connected with party divisions. If a sense of ordi- 
nary propriety did not induce me to this course, the scene now 
around me, and the circumstances which have led to it, admonish 
me to abstain. Here, in the city of Albany, where party conflicts 
run highest and hottest, where the annual assemblage of the legis- 
lature freshens and renews political divisions — here, in our streets 
which have resounded for ten years with the slogan of Jackson's 
name, and on the very spot from which his praise and his censures 
have been so freely spoken — our citizens, under the lead of the 
common council, without distinction of party, are assembled to do 
honour to the memory of a great democratic leader, forgetting in 
his grave all but his patriotism and his valour. I shall endeavour 
to imitate this honourable magnanimity, by wholly omitting a 
specific reference to those acts of his civil life which, in my sincere 
and humble judgment, would constitute the brightest flower in his 
chaplet of fame. 

But it will be no departure from this rule to claim lor this illus- 
trious man the meed of true patriotism. A life devoted to the ser- 
vice of his country, a frame enfeebled in its defence, and an ardent, 
generous popular attachment, are witnesses not to be resisted. His 
earliest strength was given to our defence — his latest prayers were 
for our prosperity. And there were two occasions in his presi- 
dential career, when the spirit of party was hushed, and the coun- 
try, with almost one accord, rallied to his support. The first was 
the bold and manly stand that he took with our ancient ally, France ; 
and the second, the vigorous enforcement of the laws in his native 



van buren's eulogy. 103 

state of South Carolina. His earnest sincerity and stern resolution 
on both these occasions were crowned with emphatic success. 

Popular liberty, in its largest sense, had no more thorough de- 
votee than Andrew Jackson. Inheriting from his father a hatred 
of Great Britain ; taken prisoner in childhood by the British forces 
in the Revolution, and exposed to cruel indignities ; a mother and 
brothers sinking into the grave under British barbarity ; engaged 
for a large portion of his military life in desperate conflicts with 
savages incited by British emissaries, and sickening at the atroci- 
ties they committed ; and, finally, a leader in those great victories 
over the British troops which have immortalized his name, — every 
sentiment of his nature, and every aspiration of his heart, was im- 
bued with jealousy of British influence, aversion to the British form 
of government, and horror of British tyranny. This predominant 
idea coloured every action of his public life. It was earliest in his 
mind, most present with him through life, and one of the last to 
leave him in death. Whenever invasion or encroachment was 
threatened from that quarter, all his sensibilities were awakened, all 
his indignation aroused. Whenever he thought he saw a disposi- 
tion to warp our simple, free, and equal government into an aristo- 
cratic direction, he opposed a stern but honest, uncalculating but 
always successful resistance. In some instances, he may have mis- 
judged ; but his impulses were always honest, and sustained by 
public approbation. And it is a singular tribute to inflexible 
honesty, as well as splendid genius, that, although such were his 
feelings and his conduct towards Great Britain, no American stood 
higher in the estimation of the British public, as I have had fre- 
quent personal opportunities of knowing ; and although his mode 
of presenting our claims on France interrupted, for a time, the di- 
plomatic relations of the two countries, and involved, in some de- 
gree, a personal issue with its king, the last portrait of his venera- 
ble form was taken for, and at the solicitation of, Louis Philippe. 

His personal attachments were strong and immoveable — he never 
forsook a friend. Open, frank, and ingenuous in his nature, he 
heeded no misrepresentations of those he loved, and cherished no 
suspicion; and this trusting, truthful attachment, was fully returned 
by his friends ; his popularity was unbounded — the personal devo- 
tion to him almost romantic. 

His habits in life were simple in the extreme. Frugal in his 
diet, the luxuries of the presidential mansion passed by him un- 
touched ; modest and unostentatious, quiet and unpretending, no 
man seemed less to covet the notoriety which for the last thirty 
years of his life it was impossible to avoid ; distinguished for the 
natural ease and elegance of his manners, with a brilliant reputa- 
tion and sufficient fortune, he would have received unwonted hon- 
ours in any foreign land. Yet he never left the United States: 



101 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

and never expressed a desire to do so, unless it might be to march 
into Canada during the last war. Wedded to the endearments of 
domestic and private life, he manifested the sincerity of his attach- 
ment to them, by resigning the successive offices of United States 
senator, judge of the Supreme Court, and others which he held, and 
declining several that were tendered to him, and devoting himself 
to his profession and family. 

He never seemed conscious of personal danger. By this, I do 
not mean that he experienced no fear — or still less, that he was 
possessed of courage. These are qualities that may be, and fre- 
quently are, found in the worst of our species. Education, habit, 
accident, may invest any one with courage ; animals possess it. 
But General Jackson had something more. His whole life is stud- 
ded with examples of this. I refer to a few, which are selected as 
most unnatural, and most likely to have disturbed his composure. 
When a young man felt called upon to attempt an indignity upon 
him, stricken in years, and president of the United States, his cane 
was instantly raised to chastise him, and he was with difficulty re- 
strained. When an exasperated mob surrounded the President's 
House, and threatened his life, the marshal offered him a score of 
constables ; the military and naval officers volunteered to him a 
guard; the members of his cabinet, and other friends, desired to 
watch with him in his house : he resolutely declined all these 
offers. Towards evening he procured two or three guns, and, with 
only his nephew and a servant in the house, went to sleep as quietly 
as an infant in his cradle. When an assassin set upon him in the 
capitol, with a double-barrelled pistol loaded, as he was making his 
way out from a funeral, after one barrel had been snapped within 
ten feet of his face, and the other was pointed at him, he advanced 
upon the madman with uplifted cane, and would have struck him 
to the earth, but for the interference of friends. He was never 
taken by surprise — counted no odds — required no notice. I doubt 
if ever a man lived of such immoveable nerve, who was so entirely 
unconscious of personal danger — so wholly forgetful of himself and 
his perils. 

His attention to young men was of the most kind and attentive 
character. He had no children, and, as has been so beautifully 
said of General Washington, Providence denied him children, that 
he might be the father of his country. He entered into all the 
feelings of youth, sympathized with its amusements and pleasures, 
forgave its frailties, was always ready with advice and assistance 
for those who asked either, and manifested a sincere and warm in- 
terest in the conduct and fortunes of his young acquaintances. 
How this added to his fascination, may well be judged. 

In 1794, he was married to his late wife, Rachel Donelson, who 
had previously been divorced from her husband, Mr. Robards. She 



van buren's eulogy. 105 

is described as having been remarkable for beauty, affability, and 
sweetness of temper ; and nothing could exceed the tenderness and 
touching devotion of General Jackson to her kindred. Perhaps I 
do wrong to expose so tender and delicate a relation as a husband's 
love to the rude gaze of the public ; but those who knew the 
lamented deceased would hardly recognise his character if this dis- 
tinguished feature were absent. During her life, she had not a 
wish ungratified, not a want unanticipated. Her remotest kindred 
became as her nearest and dearest relatives — her ordinary acquaint- 
ances as his most attached friends. After her death, which occur- 
red just previous to his assuming the presidency, her image was 
ever at his side, thoughts of her ever in his mind. He declined 
the honour of an imperial sarcophagus, and only sought a tomb by 
her side. His dying moments were cheered, at his request, by 
bringing her portrait in his sight ; and his last breath wafted to 
heaven a prayer that he might join her! He was a truly good 
man. Not that he passed his days in deeds of ostentatious benevo- 
lence — not that he sought out splendid altars at which to worship 
— not that he attached himself, in early life, to a particular sect, or 
adopted particular tenets, and considered all who differed from him 
as irretrievably lost. His was not a religion of clime or a country, 
or a sect or a persuasion ; but he illustrated, in his daily walk and 
conduct, by acts of private benevolence, kind regard for all around 
him, universal charity and love — that true piety of the heart that 
worships God everywhere and any way, that cannot be feigned, 
and invites no false imitation ; and when he came to die, he mani- 
fested the courage of a true believer. Death comes in many shapes 
where it may be met unmoved. In the rage of battle, amid the din 
of arms, in the confusion and shock of contest, the cheer of the 
victors, and the groans of the vanquished, I am told, and can well 
imagine, all sense that life is in jeopardy is banished. So, too, 
where a strong man, in the vigour of his health and intellect, in 
the full possession of his faculties, is summoned to yield to the 
king of terrors, his constancy may not forsake him. But to sit for 
weeks bowed down with bodily anguish, the eye and the ear gra- 
dually growing dull, the faculties failing; to watch the sands of 
life surely and palpably wasting awaj' — if I may so speak — thus 
prostrated and enfeebled, to stare death in the face, and describe 
his approaches in writing to your friends ; to summon one's family 
to the bedside, and calmly take leave of each member of it ; to 
calmly await his fatal stroke without inviting or avoiding it : he 
who does this, must rise above and beyond the allurements, the 
vexations, and the pains of this world, and feel an assured hope of 
a glorious immortality. 

So died Andrew Jackson ! at peace with God and man, forgiving 



106 monument to jackson. 

his enemies, and invoking blessings on his country. May it be said 
of those who are now looking into his new grave to cavil and cen- 
sure, that their last end was like his! 

Fellow-citizens, I have thus faintly and feebly sketched the cha- 
racter of him whose memory we honour. I have committed my 
remarks to paper, because, otherwise, I could not be certain what 
I should say, and I wished carefully to avoid giving any offence. 
I know I have imperfectly discharged the duty assigned to me. I 
have made nothing that deserves the name of preparation, nor 
should I wish to do so ; death gives no note of preparation, and he 
who follows his shafts, and mounts over the desolation they cause, 
should require no preparation. Grief vents itself in simple and 
unstudied language. Elaborate eulogies may be impressive or the 
reverse, not according to the merit of the subject, but to the skill 
of the performer. 

The appearance of mourners here to-day is most suitable. The 
Masonic fraternity lament the loss of a high officer : these splendid 
volunteer companies do right to honour one who won his earliest 
honours in the ranks of the militia, and reflected glory on the citi- 
zen soldiery. The officers and privates of the army most fitly pay 
respects to one who, with a single bound, sprang to their front 
ranks, and in a twelvemonth's career immortalized the skill and 
valour of the American arms. Benevolent societies ! you should 
be here, for benevolence has lost a patron. Executive, legislative, 
judicial officers, Jackson was the associate of some, the predecessor 
of others, the compeer of all of you. Few and lingering sur- 
vivors of those who achieved our independence, a comrade has 
preceded you, who shed his most youthful blood at your side ; you 
do well to gather and to grieve round his tomb. Ladies! you are 
honouring one, the most gallant of mankind- — one who repelled 
the invaders of our country, pressing forward under the brutal 
watchword of " beauty and booty" — one whose whole heart was 
bound up in an individual of your sex, whom he loved in life, and 
whose death he continually mourned ; but through whom, and in 
whom, and for whom, he respected and honoured all the rest of 
the sex. 

Citizens all ! your presence here is natural and necessary. The 
United States have lost a defender, humanity a friend, the world a 
benefactor. 

Fellow-citizens ! a word at parting. Fifty years from to-day, 
and in the ordinary course of human events, he who addresses you, 
and all those within reach of his voice, will slumber in the grave. 
These forms, now so vigorous, voices so full, eyes so bright, will 
have passed away ; probably the party divisions of the day will be 
effaced ; perhaps the government itself may be changed. But the 



VAN buren's eulogy. 107 

fame of him we now honour will be perpetuated in song and in 
story — history will record his great deeds — poetry will illustrate 
his many virtues — the canvass and the marble will hand down his 
lineaments to posterity ; and Avhatever personal or party feeling 
may now suggest, it will then be no mean praise to say of us, " He 
was the one who joined in a tribute of respect and gratitude to the 
patriot Jackson." 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT PITTSBURGH, JULY 17, 1845, 



BY THE 



Hon. WILSON McCANDLESS. 



y \S\s \j"'Vy» \* V <s 



" The Lord of Hosts has taken away the mighty man, and the 
man of war," the accomplished civilian and the great captain of 
the age. 

The people praise him — the nation mourns him : he has gone 
down to an humble and unpretending tomb, there to await the 
summons of the archangel to the resurrection of the just. 

What a spectacle is here presented to the eye of the civilized 
world ! This is no tribute to power, no suppliancy to wealth ; no 
bowing of the knee to congregated authority. It is the voluntary 
offering of a free and generous constituency to one linked to them 
by ties that nature holds indissoluble. Like the silver cord of pure 
affection, which connects us with beings of the spiritual world, 
these ties cannot be severed by the convulsions of personal and 
party warfare. In one mind and one spirit, and as brethren of the 
same household, you have come up to this place in sadness to per- 
form a melancholy but patriotic duty. 

The bells have tolled — the funeral song is sung — the muffled 
drum has revealed its mournful tale — the proud emblem of our na- 
tional sovereignty is shrouded in sable — the trumpet to the cannon 
speaks throughout the land, that one of her gifted sons has fulfilled 
his destiny, and surrendered his spirit to God who gave it. 

And, fellow-countrymen, in commemorating the virtues of de- 
parted worth ; in celebrating a name full of interest and love of 
country, let us not forget that this Hero, like his great prototype 
of the Revolution, relied not on his own arm, but upon that Omni- 
potence which controls the operations of republics and kingdoms, 
and who also sheds upon us His tender mercies, with all the reno- 
vating influence of the early and the latter rain. 

(10P) 



McCANDLESS's EULOGY. 109 

Emulating this illustrious example, derived from high authority, 
let us not worship false gods in the hour of our extremity. 

Potent as may be our means of attack and defence, proud as we 
may be of our prowess and valour, and animated with a conscious- 
ness of the rectitude of our cause, we must look to the Source of all 
power for that assistance which commands success. 

Jackson's nativity was amid the happy hills, the pleasant shades, 
and refreshing gales of the Palmetto State — that state which he re- 
garded with filial love, but whose truant spirit he was compelled to 
rebuke, when in after years she manifested a rebel disposition 
towards the government which in justice and wisdom he adminis- 
tered. 

He cherished that state. With touching sensibility he remem- 
bered the play-grounds of his early days ; and when in the stern 
reality of mature life, he was called, by the responsibility of his 
political position, to correct the errors and defections of her states- 
men, he did so as one honouring his parentage, but resolved to 
execute his high commission. 

Nursed in the lap of a mother who fled from the oppression of a 
foreign land to seek refuge in this, he imbibed those sentiments of 
patriotism which prompted him, when a stripling, to battle against 
a sovereign who arrogated to himself the name of the Lord's 
anointed. 

That mother offered up her whole family, except her last-born 
son, upon the altar of her country ; and, like Abraham, she would 
have sacrificed him too, had not her hand been stayed by an invisi- 
ble Power. 

That same spirit which animated the mothers of New England, 
prior to the contest of Lexington, actuated her to resist foreign ag- 
gression, although at the expense of domestic immolation, — and as 
son after son shouldered his musket, and departed to participate in 
the danger and glory of the great struggle for republican liberty, 
that mother forgot the natural yearnings for her offspring, in her 
deep-seated love for the land of her adoption. She knew not. at 
that early period, the reward that was in store for her favoured 
and favourite child. Her imagination had not pictured a new em- 
pire springing into existence, which would rival the Colossus of 
the Old World — one that would humble his strength, and dry up 
the sources of his power — and she could not see in the youthful 
Carolinian the successful general or the popular president of a new 
republic, predestinated to revolutionize the workings of the social 
system. But if it is permitted to those called hence, to witness, 
from their lofty sphere, the changes and chances of this life, to 
partake of our joys and sorrows, with what maternal exultation 
must she have pursued his brilliant career, and gazed with fondness 
upon its happy termination. 
10 



J 10 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Education, profound or polite, was not to be acquired during the 
stirrino" scenes of the Revolutionary war. The schoolmaster was 
there, °but his superiority was superseded by a higher authority. 
Even the sanctity of the "Meeting House," where the Rev. Mr. 
Humphries instructed Jackson in the dead languages, was invaded, 
and the pedagogue and his pupils were placed upon an equality W 
preparing for the common defence. Books were turned into wad- 
din^. The ferule was supplanted by the sword, and the fool's-cap 
by the helmet. The hunting-shirt took the place of the round- 
about, and the rifle and the powder-horn that of the satchel. The 
juvenile ramparts thrown up at mid-day were deserted, and pro- 
tection was sought for in the forts and block-houses of the early 
pioneers. 

In the midst of all this excitement, Jackson acquired the rudi- 
ments of an education, which, riveted upon his strong faculties, 
enabled him to surmount difficulties in his subsequent acquisitions 
of knowledge, which were illustrated in the military and intellec- 
tual achievements of his maturer years. 

His mother died when, with Christian zeal, she was in the ful- 
filment of an errand of mercy to the prison-ships at Charleston. 

Isolated, stript of the endearments of home and consanguinity, 
and in the possession of a trifling patrimony, he entered upon those 
studies that were to fit him for the world's criticisms and the world's 
charity. 

Waxhaw had no more charms for him ; the last link that con- 
nected him with that spot was broken. Beneath the broad elm in 
the rural church-yard, was deposited the mortal remains of her to 
whom he looked for advice and consolation. The old thatched 
roof, which protected him in infancy, was only associated with 
death and desolation. The spring, at his father's door, where he 
allayed his thirst ofter the pastime of a summer day, had no longer 
refreshment for him. His companions were all gone — they had 
been sacrificed to the vengeance of a ruthless tyranny. But he 
goes, leaving the scenes of his youth and his early associations, and 
enters upon the study of the law. 

Notwithstanding the perplexities incident to this pursuit, and 
"reatly aggravated by an imperfect education, he triumphed here, 
as in the field of battle ; and his indomitable courage and love of 
adventure prompted him to explore a scene of future action, suited 
to the bravery and independence of his character. 

Boon and his companions had been monarchs of all they sur- 
veyed. They had contended for supremacy upon the dark and 
bloody ground, where many a battle was lost and won with an in- 
trepidity that commanded, as it deserved, the admiration of suc- 
ceeding generations. 

Wild and uncivilized as was this territory at the period now re- 



M -caNdLEss's eulogv. Ill 

ferred to, the Anglo-Saxon blood could not be restrained within its 
limits, but bursting the bounds of semi-civilized society, sought a 
more extensive field upon which to develope its love of forest life, 
its excitements and toils. 

Tennessee opened a new area for the youthful ardour of the 
country. Rich in valleys and plains, teeming with the rare ver- 
dure of an untilled soil, and interspersed with barren hills which 
yield no products 

" But man and steel, the soldier and his sword;" 

many a young man wandered there, to test the strength of his 
constitution, and to carve his way to glory and to fame — 

Thence went Andrew Jackson. 

The incursions and the depredations of the savages soon afforded 
him an opportunity to display those military qualities, which sub- 
sequently raised him to posts of the highest distinction. His 
bravery excited fear from his enemies, and commanded their ad- 
miration. The red warrior who fired the cabin and scalped the 
unprotected mother and children, received his recompense in the 
deadly aim of our hero's fire-arms — confidence was excited in the 
ability of the white man to hold at bay, and finally subdue this 
formidable antagonist, and although the crack of the rifle, and the 
yell of the Indian, yet assailed the ear of the people, they as- 
sembled in solemn council, to form a constitution for their mutual 
government and safety. 

To that covention Jackson was elected a delegate ; and he there 
exhibited the same skill and discernment in laying the foundations 
of a state, that he exhibited in other grave enterprises, civil and 
military. Stout hearts and strong minds were present at that convo- 
cation; and among them, pre-eminent in judgment and debate, was 
the subject of this eulogy. They modelled a constitution, republi- 
can and conservative in its character, and were admitted into 

"The immortal league of love that hinds 
Our fair broad empire, slate with state." 

Talents of the high order manifested by him were not permitted 
to slumber in the seclusion of obscurity. Honoured with the ap- 
probation of a constituency whom he prized and loved, he was 
sent by acclamation to represent the people of the new-born state 
in the Congress of the Union. Thence he was transmitted to that 
august body, the Senate of the United States, there to be associated 
with some of the founders and fathers of the republic, in maturing 
a system of laws in conformity to the great fundamental instrument 
of our national creation. 



112 MONt"Mi:XT TO JACKSON. 

Although he was neither «' the cunning artificer, nor the elo- 
quent orator," he was gifted by Heaven with those masculine pow- 
ers of mind which rendered him a valuable adjunct to the senators 
by whom he was surrounded. The principal measure to which he 
devoted his attention, during his legislative career, was the repeal 
of the alien law, that odious enactment so repugnant to the spirit 
of our inimitable institutions. 

Anxious for that retirement so often sought for, and seldom at- 
tained by the eminent and the good, he abandoned the stage of 
political collision, before the expiration of his constitutional term, 
and took up his abode on the sunny banks of the Cumberland river. 
Like the noble old Roman, he was not permitted to repose long 
under his own vine and fig-tree, until popular sentiment called him 
to the exercise of the highest judicial functions of the state. 

Distrustful of his legal attainments, and his ability to spread the 
broad platform on which was to rest the jurisprudence of Tennes- 
see in all future time, he accepted and exercised the duties of his 
high vocation only for a limited period. 

"Clear and discriminating, he looked more to the essence thai; to 
the bodily form of the subject. Justice, equity, a sense of right, 
prevailed over mere legal technicality ; and when his decree vus 
made, it was as unalterable as the laws of the Medes and the Per- 
sians. More — when the ministerial authority was set at defiance 
by the turbulent spirits of the day, he was the first to inculcate, by 
his presence and courage, unconditional submission to the laws. In 
this he illustrates the force and beauty of our political system. 

When the whole popular momentum is brought to bear, by the 
exigency of a single writ, upon an insubordinate member of so- 
ciety, the bench, the workshop, and the pulpit may be impressed 
into the civil police, to restore order, or compel a compliance with 
the judgments of the constitutional courts of the country. The 
offended or defeated party may appeal to Ca?sar, but he must re- 
spect the edicts of the lesser tribunal. Upon this is dependent the 
proper administration of justice to all classes of the community. 

Jackson found many, during his brief judicial career, who re- 
garded animal force as paramount to legal obligation, and he 
checked the revolutionary spirit by a ready and resolute compli- 
ance, on his own part, with the requisitions of the proper office, 
enjoined to execute the mandates of the law. 

Once more in retirement, surrounded by ardent friends and gene- 
rous neighbours, and in the enjoyment of that recreation necessary 
for the restoration of a debilitated constitution, the judge was 
merged in the farmer, and he so continued until his country called 
him to the protection of our southern frontier, from the attacks of 
a bloody and relentless adversary. 

With alacrity he obeyed the call. To his standard flocked bun- 



McCANDLESS's EULOGY. 113 

dreds of his countrymen, eager as himself* for the tight. The close 
of the campaign showed that the valour attributed to each was not 
counterfeit or misplaced. 

To the Creek war we may refer with pride and satisfaction, as 
rivalling in glory the achievements of the youthful Corsican upon 
the plains of Italy. 

Encompassed everywhere with the apprehension of disease, and 
the reality of famine, victory succeeded victory, until the machi- 
nations of Tecumseh, the divinations of his brother the Prophet, 
and the " savage" diplomacy of Great Britain, were overwhelmed 
by the bravery of the commander and his men. 

The battle of Talushatchee, under the direction of the unsubdued 
and unconquerable Coffee, was a prelude to the rout at Talladega. 
But at Talladega, astounded, scattered, dismayed, these heretofore 
invincible warriors fled before the valiant men under Jackson's 
command, until night intervened and arrested the pursuit. 

This battle, the first successful blow at Creek sovereignty on the 
soil of Alabama, animated the hopes and raised the languishing 
spirits of the gallant Tennesseeans. They fought as men never 
fought before — mutiny was absorbed in discipline, and love of home 
in love of country. Admonished by the advice of Washington 
to Braddock, on the shores of our own Monongahela, they encoun- 
tered deep ravines and a clandestine foe, with an energy that con- 
founded, surprised, and put to rout their enemies. 

From Emuckfaw to Tohopeka, their march was a succession of 
brilliant achievements ; and extermination would have been the 
fate of these infatuated tribes, had they not sued for quarter and 
despatched the calumet of peace to their intrepid conqueror. 

After this last great contest with the Creeks, Jackson addressed 
his soldiers in the following words, that blaze and burn with the 
patriotic feelings of the nation's champion. 

" You have entitled yourselves to the gratitude of your general 
and your country. You have opened your way to the Tallapoosa, 
and destroyed a confederacy of the enemy, ferocious by nature, 
and grown insolent from impunity. The fiends will no longer 
murder our women and children, or disturb the quiet of our borders. 
Their midnight flambeaux will no longer illumine their council- 
house, or shine upon the victim of their infernal orgies. In their 
places, a new generation will arise — the weapons of warfare will 
be exchanged for the utensils of husbandry ; and the wilderness, 
which now withers in sterility, and mourns the desolation which 
overspreads her, will blossom as the rose, and become the nursery 
of the arts. It is lamentable that the path of peace should lead 
through blood, and over the bodies of the slain: but to inflict partial 
evils that s;ood may come, is a dispensation of Divine Providence." 
10* 



114 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

The prophecy was fulfilled long before the undaunted general 
had completed his earthly career. 

These heroic deeds attracted the attention of the general govern- 
ment; and when that crisis came, that was to exhibit to an impar- 
tial world that our ancient enemy, jealous of our rapid progress to 
glory and empire, trampled upon the rights and prerogatives of 
freemen, Jackson was honoured by the executive with the appoint- 
ment of major-general in the regular army. 

This was in May, 1814. After treating with the enemy he had 
subdued, he marched in the autumn of that year to the south, to 
counteract the operations of the British and Indians who had made 
a hostile demonstration in that quarter. As Spain, a neutral na- 
tion, harboured them, while they were harassing our border, he 
exercised the right of a belligerent, acting upon the principles of 
self-preservation, and reduced her forts, and planted the American 
eagle on the walls of Pensacola. 

A lowering cloud hung over Louisiana. Threatened with the 
arrival of a well-appointed and disciplined army, unprepared with 
men or the munitions of war, fear and despondency shook the faith 
and paralyzed the arm of her motley population. Dread and dis- 
may was depicted in every countenance, until the invincible ge- 
neral, with stern aspect and indomitable resolution, declared in 
tones of thunder that the enemy should never reach the city. 

He gathered his limited means of defence. He fortified every 
vulnerable point. Sleepless, active, vigilant himself, he animated 
the people by his bold and courageous deportment. He told them 
they were contending for all that could render life desirable, " For 
your property and lives; for that which is dearer than all, your 
wives and your children, for liberty ; without which, country, life, 
and property are not worth possessing. Even the embraces of 
wives and children are a reproach to the wretch who would de- 
prive them by his cowardice of those inestimable blessings. 

" Natives of the United States! the enemy you have to contend 
with, are the oppressors of your youthful political existence — they 
are the oppressors your fathers fought and conquered — descendants 
of Frenchmen ! natives of France ! they are English , the hereditary 
and eternal enemies of your ancient country, the invaders of that 
you have adopted! Spaniards! remember the conduct of your 
allies at St. Sebastian, and recently Pensacola, and rejoice that you 
have an opportunity of avenging the brutal injuries of men who 
dishonour the human race. Louisianians ! your general rejoices to 
witness the spirit that animates you, not only for your honour, but 
your safety. Your enemy is near, his sail already covers the lakes; 
but the brave are united, and if he finds us contending among our- 
selves, it will be for the prize of valour, and fame, its noblest 
reward." 



McCANDLESS's EULOGY. 115 

Such was the eloquent appeal of this illustrious patriot, to the 
raw and undisciplined army under his control. The deepest solici- 
tude filled his heart, panic and peril surrounded him. The unre- 
dressed rights and wrongs of the American people were concen- 
trated upon him; a nation's hope and a nation's glory rested upon 
his lone arm. Peace, happiness, and contentment, the unsullied 
honour of our flag, and the brilliant or mortifying termination of a 
disastrous war, depended upon bravery and discretion, and nobly 
did he redeem his pledge for the public security. 

But in his midst were traitors and miscreants, who would have 
sold New Orleans for an equivalent — men who, like the fox, 
" barked not until they could steal the lamb." 

To stifle in embryo this infidelity to the country, and under the 
solemn conviction that the forms of the constitution should be sus- 
pended to protect the rights of the citizens, he declared martial 
law, and superseded the functions of civil authority. 

News arrived at meridian on the 23d December, that the main 
body of the enemy had landed. Electric as was the shock to those 
who surrounded him, to the general it was the signal for immediate 
action. He was aware of the necessity of a repulse, to stimulate 
the despondent, and prepare for the great contest that was to bring 
disgrace or glory on our arms. His decision was prompt. He 
resolved to meet them that night. When the sun had gone down 
— when his parting rays shed a faint glimmering in the west, and 
all nature sought repose amid the shadows of the evening, Jackson 
was preparing for conflict with an ardour and an energy premoni- 
tory of eminent success. 

At midnight, with scarcely a solitary star to illumine his path, 
but directed by a ray of light such as guided the shepherds " on 
the plains of Babylon," he approached the enemy, drove him from 
his position of fancied security, and like Gideon in pursuit of Zebah 
and Zalmunna, princes of Midian, he returned from battle " before 
the sun was up." 

The events of that night were pregnant with the most important 
results. New life was infused into the army. No longer appalled 
and disheartened by the reputation and numbers of their transatlan- 
tic foe, and proud of their general and his staff, they reached the 
city flushed with the confident expectation that once more to the 
breach and the struggle would be ended. 

That struggle came, and their anticipations were realized. 

The memorable 8th of January, 1815, dawned amid the din and 
preparation of the contending armies. Great as was the disparity 
in numbers, the presiding genius roused the valour of his troops 
and prepared them for battle — they fought, fought with the energy 
of veterans, and fell like the bravest of the brave — amid bombs, and 
balls, and congreve rockets, they poured a deadly fire on the ad- 



116 MONTMENT TO JACKSON. 

vancing columns, and illuminated the heavens with the unremitting 
flash of their artillery. 

But I am inadequate to the office of description, and shall not 
detain you with the details of that gallant strife. They are as 
familiar as household words, and must be impressed indelibly upon 
the memory of American citizens. 

The triumphant decision of that day you know. It came upon 
the country like a clap of thunder in the clear azure vault of the 
firmament, and travelled with electro-magnetic velocity, through- 
out the confines of the land. 

To the victor was awarded a nation's blessing, to his men a na- 
tion's gratitude — and anthems, and prayers, and praises M'ere of- 
fered up in sincerity and truth, in the temples of the living God, 
for His gracious protection to our political institutions, through the 
instrumentality of his illustrious servant. 

The measure of Jackson's glory was not full. He had van- 
quished tribes of cruel and barbarous Indians. He had conquered 
a haughty and insolent foe. He had established the second inde- 
pendence of his country, but to the constitution of that country he 
rendered a tribute, that will stamp him with an undying name. 

Idolized by the people whose city he had saved ; cheered by the 
huzzas of the multitude wherever he went ; surrounded by a vic- 
torious soldiery, and armed with all the pomp and circumstance of 
glorious war, he was arraigned for contempt before the judicial 
authority of the government. 

Did he resist ? No ! A thousand sabres would have leaped 
from their scabbards for his security, if he had indicated such a 
wish. He forebore — he submitted, however unjust the decree, to 
the legally constituted tribunal, and paid his fine like an enlightened 
citizen of a free republic. 

The acts of his presidency are so recent, they have been the 
theme of so much approbation and disapprobation by the people of 
both hemispheres — so great has been the diversity of sentiment as 
to their policy and wisdom, and coinciding as I do in their justice 
and political efficacy, it does not become me to speak of them, on 
the occasion of this solemn and interesting ceremony. 

One merit you will all accord to him — a stern honesty of pur- 
pose, and inexorable virtue in performing what he believed to be 
his promise and duty, and for the public good. 

The Union never had a warmer or more attached friend. In 
this his bitterest enemy could not accuse him of the semblance of 
hypocrisy. He never clothed his words in colours differing from 
his thoughts ; and his breast, like the crystal, revealed the truth of 
what emanated from his heart. 

To the perpetuity of that Union he devoted his most active 



EULOGY. 117 

energy, and for its preservation he would have sacrificed his best 
friend, or died beneath the columns of the Capitol. 

And now, my countrymen, let us follow him to the Hermitage, 
around which he had garnered his hope, for a Christian and peace- 
ful termination of his days. 

Disrobed of official dignity ; destitute of power and place ; an 
eminent private citizen, the acclamations of the people followed 
him there, and filled him with gladness and joy. 

His ambition was satisfied. His country had conferred upon 
him her gratitude and her distinguished honours. He saw her at 
peace with all the world, and her proud domain smiling in beauty, 
as on the morning of the Creation. 

With an humble and contrite heart, he prepared to meet his 
God. He died! — died in the full confidence of mingling with the 
spirits of the just made perfect, and in singing hallelujahs in thanks- 
giving; to his Maker. 

D D 

The fallen brave is enshrined in the bosom of his mother earth. 
His tranquil grave could not be dignified by sarcophagus or pyra- 
mids, fit for the ephemeral greatness of kings and emperors. 

He rests in sepulchral communion with his " true and honoura- 
ble wife," who was as dear to him 



3 



as the ruddy drops, 



That visited his sad heart," 

at the period of their earthly separation. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT SAVANNAH, JULY 8, 1845, 



BY THK 



Hon. MATTHEW HALL McALLISTER. 



There is a strong desire inherent in our nature to link the past 
with the present, and thus perpetuate the relics of time. This feel- 
ing, which impels us to rescue from oblivion the events and per- 
sonages of by-gone days, has manifested itself in ways as various as 
the genius of man. " It was a custom," we are told, " among the 
primitive Romans to preserve in their houses the images of all the 
illustrious men whom their families had produced." In the infancy 
of art, these were of the rudest materials and form. But at each 
successive funeral they were borne in procession, and served, rude 
as they were, to gratify this feeling, and to incite the survivors to 
emulate the deeds of the departed great. When the pencil and 
the chisel had imparted life to the canvass, and form to the marble, 
art was made subservient to the craving of man to redeem the me- 
mories of the past. " The storied urn, the animated bust," the lofty 
column, the magnificent mausoleum, became the mute interpreters 
of the dead. At a later period that puny instrument, the pen, 
more potent than the engines of Archimedes, traced the events of 
fleeting time, fixed them on the glowing page, and man's desire 
was gratified to an extent beyond what had been achieved by the 
canvass, the marble, or any mere physical symbol. How much 
stronger is this feeling when stimulated by the impulses of grati- 
tude ? It is in obedience to this universal dictate of our nature, 
strengthened by the most powerful motive which can operate upon 
generous hearts, that we are this day assembled. Another link 
which bound us to the past is broken. The last great relic of the 
Revolution is no more. The sage of the Hermitage — the venerated 
chief magistrate — the victorious general — the boy-hero of the Re- 
volution, dwells no longer among men. Ours is the pleasing 
mough melancholy task to brighten the chain which memory 

(J 18) 



McAllister's eulogy. 119 

forges — to connect him with the Present and the Future. Andrew 
Jackson, a name pronounced by the wild Indian in his forest home 
with fear, throughout the borders of our country with affection, and 
which has been borne across the ocean on the wings of victory, is 
no longer to be read in the register of living men. We have come 
up from the ordinary avocations of life to this sacred temple, to re- 
view his services, embalm his memory, and contemplate his cha- 
racter. And if from that contemplation we can catch somewhat 
of the spirit which once animated him, we shall retire from this 
consecrated building better prepared for the discharge of our duties 
as citizens. The ceremonies of this day will not be deemed an 
empty pageant, but the performance of a high and sacred duty, by 
the discharge of which, our love of country will become purified, 
elevated, and increased ! 

The first mention of the name of Andrew Jackson leads us to one 
of the most eventful periods in the war of the Revolution. Carry 
yourselves back in imagination to the year 1778. " Baffled in 
their attempts upon the northern portion of the colonies, the British 
essayed to conquer the more sparsely populated South." In prose- 
cution of their plan, Savannah was taken, South Carolina invaded, 
and Charleston, with the whole southern army, fell into the hands 
of the enemy. Cornwallis, Rawdon, and Tarleton, roamed the Ca- 
rolinas, and the subjugation of the South seemed at hand. Then 
arose a band of patriots to shed glory on the arms of their country, 
and fan the expiring flame of liberty in the hearts of their country- 
men : — the Marions, the Sumters, the Pickens, the Davidsons, and 
a host of others, who continued to breast the storm, and strike for 
liberty against the exulting foe. Men, whose habitual companions 
were danger and want, whose dwelling-places were the morasses 
of the land, and whose hardy deeds never can be forgotten while 
gratitude animates the American heart ! Such was the time, such 
the men, beneath whose influence the infant mind and character of 
Andrew Jackson received their first impression. They constituted 
a mould in which to form a hero! At the period to which your 
attention is directed, there lived, in the state of South Carolina, a 
comparatively obscure widow, with her three sons, Robert, Hugh, 
and Andrew Jackson. In the bosom of that lone widow there beat 
a heart worthy of a Spartan mother. Ancient story informs us of 
a matron of Sparta, who, when her son, about to depart for battle, 
complained " that his sword was too short," replied, " Lengthen it 
by a step, my son." Such was the mother of Andrew Jackson. 
With her husband and two eldest sons, she had emigrated from Ire- 
land to escape British oppression. Alas ! it reached her and hers 
in the far off forest home they had sought. The indomitable yet 
gentle spirit of this extraordinary woman, which found objects of 
benevolence even in that Pandemonium — a British prison-ship in 



120 MONUMENT TO .TACKSON. 

the harbour of Charleston, must have exercised no inconsidcrabli 
influence upon the characters of her sons. These last, youthful ai 
they were, she gave to her country. The first battle -field of An- 
drew Jackson was one of the Revolution, fought on the tith August, 
1780. Not fourteen years of age, under Davie, attached to the 
command of Sumter, he made his first essay at arms, in an attack 
on the British post of Hanging Rock, near the banks of the Cataw- 
ba, in South Carolina. We next hear of the youthful soldier in an 
affair which took place at the house of a Whig partisan by the name 
of Land. Not apprehending an attack, the inmates of the dwelling 
had lain upon their arms during the night, and with the exception 
of a British deserter, fell asleep. A detachment of Tories had de- 
termined to surprise the small party of Americans in the house of 
Captain Land. In the execution of their plan, they assailed it in 
two divisions, one advancing around the east end of the out-build- 
ings to the east door, the other around the western end to the west 
door. At this critical moment, when within a few rods, their ap- 
proach was discovered by the wakeful soldier, who aroused the 
youthful Jackson with the exclamation, "The Tories are upon us!" 
The young hero rushed through the east door, placed himself by a 
tree in front of it, hailed the advancing party, and receiving no re- 
ply, fired. A volley was returned, which killed the soldier who 
had followed, and was standing near him. At this instant, the 
other division of Tories appeared, and mistaking, in the darkness 
of the night, the discharge of their friends for that of a sallying 
party from the house, opened a brisk fire upon them. Thus, both 
parties were brought to a stand. Young Jackson having retired 
into the mansion, aided its inmates in repelling the assailants, two 
of whom were shot down by his side. The Tories continued the 
conflict until, startled by the sound of a cavalry charge in the dis- 
tance, they fled to the woods. Thus, by the coolness and intre- 
pidity of the young soldier, the whole party were saved from mas- 
sacre, for quarter was seldom given in the bloody conflicts between 
Whig and Tory. Cn this occasion, qualities were exhibited which 
shadowed forth the hero of maturer life. " Promptitude of design 
and fearlessness in execution" were developed, and these " consti- 
tute the perfection of the warrior." A short time after this exploit, 
our young hero and his brother were thrown, by the chances of 
war, into the hands of the enemy. During their captivity, an inci- 
dent occurred which exhibits the high spirit of these gallant youths. 
A British officer exacted from Andrew Jackson the performance of 
a menial task : he refused, claiming to be treated as a prisoner of 
war. Instead of admiring the manly spirit of the noble boy, the 
ruffian struck at his head with his sword. The intended victim, 
raising his arm, saved his life, but received a wound, the scar of 
which he carried to his grave. Turning to his brother Robert, this 



MCALLISTER'S ECOLOGY. 121 

disgrace to the name of a soldier, demanded of him the perform- 
ance of the menial office ; meeting with a like refusal, he aimed a 
furious blow at him, the effects of which proved fatal. Who can 
sufficiently admire these lads, surrounded by armed foes, exhibiting 
a spirit worthy of the sternest manhood? At length, by the inde- 
fatigable efforts of their mother, an exchange of prisoners was 
effected, and the liberation of her two sons accomplished. Alas ! 
one of them she Avelcomed only to witness his death from the 
wound he had received — the other, worn down by the sufferings of 
his confinement, aggravated by disease, seemed received by the 
special interposition of Providence for the fulfilment of his future 
destiny. Before the close of the war, that exemplary woman died, 
a victim to the sufferings from which her sex did not exempt her 
in those trying times. Her two eldest sons fell, one on the field of 
battle, the other by the blow of an assassin, wearing the uniform of 
a British officer, and Andrew Jackson alone survived the horrors 
of the Revolution. Think you there was required of him the oath 
imposed on the youthful Hannibal of undying hostility to the mo- 
dern Rome? No! In the bosom of that boy there was a spark 
which future events fanned into a flame, by the light of which 
Britain read in legible characters the name of Andrew Jackson ! — a 
name endeared to Americans by the sufferings of the boy of the Revo- 
lution, consecrated in their affections by the triumphs of the man of 
maturer life. The Revolution was at an end. The eagle of America 
plumed his wing for a lofty flight ! The sable banners of war were 
furled, and peace spread her golden wings over our exhausted but 
redeemed country. The boy has grown into manhood, but in the 
avocations to which his attention was directed, we shall find the 
seed, planted in his breast by the iron hand of the Revolution, ma- 
tured into fruit by his own indomitable will and lofty courage.* 
In 1787, having been admitted to the practice of the law in the 
state of North Carolina, he was, at the early age of twenty-one, 
appointed solicitor of the Western District, embracing within its 
limits the present state of Tennessee. In the following year, he 
moved to the West, and established his residence at Jonesboro, 
separated by a wilderness of two hundred miles from the settle- 
ments on the Cumberland. The selection of such a home, bespeaks 
the adventurous spirit of the man. Surrounded by the hardships 
of a forest life, by savages more ferocious than the beasts that roam- 
ed around, danger became his household companion. The stirring 
incidents of his life which intervened between his settlement in 
Tennessee and her admission into the Union, are too minute and 
numerous to find a place in this hasty sketch. They border on the 



* The incidents in the early life of Jackson are taken from Kendall's "Life 
of Jackson." 
11 



122 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

romantic, and serve to illustrate the aphorism, that " truth is oft 
times stranger than fiction." Although engaged in the practice of 
his profession, and at the same time the prosecuting officer for the 
government, he was not the man to see his neighbours butchered 
without discrimination of age or sex, and not strike many blows in 
their defence. His gallantry in various expeditions against the In- 
dians, in which he acted as a volunteer, acquired for him among that 
people the names of the "Sharp Knife" and the "Pointed Arrow." 
From the year 1795 is to be dated the entry of Andrew Jackson 
into public life, for in that year he became a member of the con- 
vention charged with the duty of preparing a constitution for the 
new state of Tennessee. On the 1st of June, 1796, she was ad- 
mitted into the Union, and he became her first representative in 
the national councils. On the 22d of November, 1797, he took 
his seat in the Senate of the United States, to which body he had 
been elected, and arrayed himself in the ranks of the republican 
party. The Sedition act was introduced into the Senate by Mr. 
Lloyd of Maryland, in June, 1798, and passed into a law on the 
4th of July following, during which interval General Jackson was 
absent at home on urgent business. His name therefore does not 
appear on the journals of the senate. "On the Alien law, how- 
ever, he was with the minority and on the side of the republicans." 
He soon resigned his seat, finding little could be effected against 
the measures of the federalists, constituting, as they did at the time, 
a majority in that body. But his services were too important to 
be lost, and he was appointed to preside over the Supreme Court 
of law and equity in the state of Tennessee. An allusion to one 
or two incidents which marked the rough times in which he was 
called to the administration of the public justice, may not be inap- 
propriate. They will give the " form and pressure" of those times, 
and serve to illustrate the identity of the man of thirty with the 
boy of the Revolution. An individual had been indicted and was 
for trial. He was in the immediate vicinity of the court house, 
but such was the strength and ferocity of the man, that the sheriff, 
not daring to approach him, made a return " that Russell Bean will 
not be taken." "He must be taken," said the judge, "and if 
necessary you must summon the body of the county to your aid." 
The officer retired, awaited the adjournment of the court, and sum- 
moned the judges themselves. Judge Jackson replied, "Yes, sir, I 
will attend you, and see that you do your duty." Learning that 
Bean was armed, he requested a loaded pistol which was placed in 
his hand. He then said to the sheriff, "Advance and arrest him, I 
will protect you from harm." Bean, armed with a dirk and brace 
of pistols, assumed an attitude of defiance and desperation. But as 
the judge advancecf upon him, he began to retreat. "Stop and 
obey the law," cried the intrepid magistrate. The desperate man 



McAllister's eulogy. 123 

paused, threw down his weapons, and exclaimed, " I will surrender 
to you, sir, but to no one else!" 

On another occasion, in consequence of his having exposed to 
the general government extensive land frauds perpetrated in Ten- 
nessee, Judge Jackson had concentrated upon himself the hostility 
of a powerful and influential body of men implicated in those frauds. 
To such height had their enmity risen, that an attempt was made 
to mob him on his way to hold a court. Intelligence of the medi- 
tated assault had the effect simply of speeding his movements to the 
scene of contemplated outrage. On his arrival, labouring under 
severe indisposition, he sought the retirement of his chamber. A 
friend called, and informing him that a regiment of men, headed 
by a Colonel Harrison, had collected in front of the house with a 
view to carry their threat into execution, advised him to secure his 
door. Judge Jackson immediately threw it open and exclaimed, 
" Give my compliments to Colonel Harrison, and tell him that my 
door is open to receive him and his regiment when they choose to 
wait upon me, and I hope that the chivalry of the colonel will in- 
duce him to lead, not follow his men." It is needless to add, that 
the fury of the mob quailed before the intrepidity of the man. 

In 1803, Judge Jackson received the commission of major-ge- 
neral in the militia of Tennessee. In the following year, he re- 
signed his judicial office, and devoted himself to agricultural pur- 
suits, in the expectation of passing the remainder of his days in the 
seclusion of private life. But 

"There's a Divinity that shapes our ends, 
Rough-hew them how we will." 

A.t the period when General Jackson supposed his public life at 
its close, its most stirring incidents remained to be developed. 

We now approach the war of 1812. On the 12th of June of 
that year, the declaration of war was made by the United States 
against Great Britain. The boy-hero of the Revolution, thedestined 
avenger of the wrongs of his ancestors in Ireland, of the injuries of 
his family in this country, aroused himself from his repose to re- 
spond to that country's call. On the 25th of June, thirteen days 
after that declaration, he tendered through the executive of Ten- 
nessee to the general government, his services with those of 2500 
volunteers. On the 12th of July following, the secretary of war, 
in a letter of acceptance, writes—" The tender of service by Ge- 
neral Jackson and those under his command, is received by the 
president with peculiar satisfaction, and in accepting their services, 
the president cannot withhold an expression of his admiration of 
the zeal and ardour by which they are animated." The governor 
of Tennessee, while conveying to General Jackson the acceptance 
>f his services bv the president, tenders his thanks to him for the 



124 MwraacrasT to jackson. 

haiwTOr done his state by the prompt manner in which those ser- 
vices had been proffered. On the 23d of November in the same 

Jtr, orders were received to rendezvous in the vicinity of Nat- 
chi'Z, to co-operate, as it was supposed, with General Wilkinson, 
then at New Orleans. On the 4th of January, 1813, General Jack- 
sc:i writes to the secretary of war, " I have the pleasure to inform 
vou that I am now at the head of 2,070 volunteers, the choicest of 
our citizens, who go at the call of their country to execute the will 
of the government, who have no constitutional scruples, and if the 
government order, will rejoice at the opportunity of placing the 
American eagle on the ramparts of Mobile, Pensacola and St. 
Augustine, thus effectually banishing from the southern coast all 
British influence." In obedience to orders the army commenced 
its march, and after accomplishing a voyage of one thousand miles, 
exposed to unusual hardships, owing to the inclemency of the sea- 
son, arrived at the place of appointed rendezvous. The spirit of 
the general breathes in his official communications. To General 
Wilkinson he writes : " Should the safety of this lower country 
admit, and the government so order, I would with pleasure march 
to the lines of Canada, and there offer my feeble aid to the arms of 
our country, and endeavour to wipe off the stain on our military cha- 
racter occasioned by our recent disasters since the declaration of 
war." 

Such was the noble spirit by which the commander and his men 
were animated, when an order was received from the secretary of 
war, directing the former to disband the latter, and deliver all arti- 
cles of public property into the possession of Major-General Wilk- 
inson. We pause not to inquire into the cause of this extraordinary 
procedure, nor to ascertain the truth of the assertion current at the 
time, that it arose out of a combination between the secretary of 
war and General Wilkinson, having for its object, the disbanding 
of a large body of men at a distance from their homes, under cir- 
cumstances of necessity, which would compel them to enlist into 
the army at New Orleans. It is with the conduct of the com- 
manding general we have exclusively to deal ; and it is not to be 
denied, that he was placed in circumstances which would have 
crushed any man of ordinary nerve. The government expected 
compliance with its order. General Wilkinson awaited it — his 
own officers advised it. But what did General Jackson? A man 
of few words, he spoke by action, for 

"Conduct hath the loudest tongue, 

In the Deed, 

The unequivocal, authentic deed, 

We find sound argument, we rend the heart." 

fie promptly determined to disobey the order. At the time it 
reached his camp, 130 of his men were on the sick list, and by far 



EtfLOGY. 125 

the greater number unable to defray the expenses of their return. 
His command was composed of young men whom he had received 
at the hands of their parents, with the promise reiterated in public 
orders before his march, " that he would act the part of a father to 
them." He was not the man to falsify his word, and disband them 
a thousand miles from their homes without the means of return. 
He disobeyed the order, threatened with punishment a recruiting 
oihcer found hanging around his encampment — borrowed money 
on his private credit — marched his men to their homes, and there 
disbanded them. The noble daring of this act was sustained by its 
justice, and within a few months received the approval of the 
secretary of war himself. One more evidence of his determined 
spirit, and we have done with this portion of his life. On his re- 
turn march, though keenly alive to the ungenerous treatment of the 
government, such was his ardour to serve his country, he wrote to 
the secretary of war, "Should government have any orders to 
execute at Maiden, or its vicinity, about the 30th proximo, I shall 
be happy to execute them, at the head of my detachment, provided 
I can be informed of their wishes about the 25th instant, or before 
I am discharged. My force can be augmented if necessary. I 
have a few standards wearing the American eagle, that I should be 
happy to place on the ramparts of Maiden." 

A few months only had elapsed after the disbanding of the volun- 
teers by General Jackson, when there burst upon the frontiers of 
the southern states the darkest war-cloud that had ever gathered 
upon their horizon. The machinations of Tecumseh and his brother, 
the Prophet, aided by British intrigue, had spread general dissatis- 
faction among the Indians. Hostile incursions mere made into the 
neighbouring states, and indiscriminate slaughter marked their 
bloody path. Then came the frightful massacre at Fort Minis, in 
which 300 men, women and children were butchered, under cir- 
cumstances of revolting ferocity, and excited the horror, the fears, 
and finally the vengeance of the states. Upon General Jackson 
the eyes of Tennessee were turned. Again that brave warrior ap- 
pealed to his volunteers, and again they responded to his call. 
Labouring under indisposition, he was unable to meet his army on 
the day appointed for rendezvous, and therefore caused an address 
to be read to them. The sentiments it breathes give it a claim to 
our attention. " Our borders," said he, « must no longer be dis- 
turbed with the war-whoop of these savages or the cries of their 
suffering victims. The torch that has been lighted up must be 
made to blaze in the heart of their own country. But how shall 
a war so Ions; forborne, and so loudly called for by retributive 
justice, be waged? Shall we imitate the example of our enemies 
in the disorder of their movements and the savageness of their dis- 
position ! Is it worthy of th" character of American soldiers who 
II* 



126 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

take up arms to redress the wrongs of an injured country, to as- 
sume no better mode than that furnished by barbarians'? No! fel- 
low-soldiers, great as are the grievances which have called us from 
our homes, we must not permit disorderly passions to tarnish the 
reputation we will carry with us. We must and will be victori- 
ous, but we must conquer as men who owe nothing to chance ; and 
who in the midst of victory can still be mindful of what is due to 
humanity." 

Animated by such feelings, the general advanced with his com- 
mand into the fastnesses of the Creek country. Without supplies, 
with an army goaded to insubordination by want, he fought the 
battles of Talladega, Emuckfaw, Enotochopco, and the bloody and 
decisive conflict of the Horseshoe. By personal intervention, he 
suppressed four several mutinies to which his men had been driven 
by famine, annihilated the power of the savages, and in a few 
months conquered peace for his country and safety for her fron- 
tiers. And all this was done while labouring under physical de- 
bility, which at times incapacitated him from sitting upright upon 
his horse. There is one within the sound of my voice, who served 
under General Jackson during the latter part of this expedition. 
He has, when speaking of its events, stated, that such was the 
weakness of the general, that his body was so bent at times, his 
head rested on the neck of his horse for support. " But," said my 
informer, " let the whoop of an Indian or the crack of a rifle be 
heard, his frame became so erect, and his eye so full of fire, that 
one ignorant of the fact, could not have believed that an instant 
before, the former had been prostrated by debility, and the latter 
dimmed by disease." 

In allusion to this campaign, an English writer, preliminary to 
a narration of it, declares, " I must now desire the English reader 
to prepare himself for a series of actions wholly incredible, were 
they not attested by piles of official documents, the authenticity of 
which no man can doubt." * " In the -wonder- 

ful details I am about to lay before the reader, it will be seen that 
not another man that we have ever heard of, was capable of per- 
forming this duty with success, and when the reader has gone 
through these details, and has afterwards witnessed the glorious de- 
feat of New Orleans, he will recur to this Indian campaign as the 
most glorious exploit of this wonderful man." The character of 
Andrew Jackson, as gathered from his conduct as a military man 
in his war against the savages, exhibits an inflexibility of purpose 
which difficulties only served to develope more fully. When duty 
pointed out a course, he swerved neither to the right hand nor to the 
left. He gave 

" Prayer to the windG, and caution to the waves." 



MCALLISTER'S EULOGY. 127 

Obstacles deterred him not — on the contrary his resolution, " like 
the great propelling power of the present day, was pent up within 
the iron of his bosom, but to carry him on with fiercer determina- 
tion," and greater speed to the end desired. Up to the period of 
which we are speaking, General Jackson had served in the militia 
of his state. Having literally fought himself into the confidence 
of the administration and the country, in May, 1814, he was ap- 
pointed a major-general in the service of the United States, and 
charged with the protection of the coast near the mouths of the 
Mississippi. His attention was first directed to Pensacola, in the 
then Spanish territory. From that fortress he was convinced the 
Indians received constant supplies of ammunition and arms, and 
over its governor, British influence exercised entire control. The 
standards of Spain and England floated side by side from its ram- 
parts. From that post, Colonel Nichols, a British officer, had dated 
his inflammatory proclamation to the people of Louisiana and Ken- 
tucky. From it, a hostile expedition had been fitted out against 
Fort Bower, on the Mobile, and General Jackson was certain if he 
left Pensacola under British ascendency, incursions would be made 
against the settlements on the Mobile, and ultimately all intercourse 
between New Orleans and the interior be cut off. 

Spain, a neutral power, either gave aid to our enemy, and should 
herself be treated as one, or she was too weak to prevent the use 
of her territory by our enemy, in which event she could not justly 
complain if the injured nation claimed to hold that territory until 
she possessed the power to enforce its neutrality. Under the pres- 
sure of these considerations, and the eminent peril of the time, in 
the absence of instructions from his government, General Jackson 
"took the responsibility upon himself," entered the Spanish terri- 
tory, and by a visit to Pensacola, effectually arrested all hostile 
operations from that quarter. Having performed this service to his 
country, the indomitable soldier directed his steps to a new theatre 
of glory, and arrived on the first of December, 1814, at New Or- 
leans, with a determination to defend the country successfully, or, 
in his own language to Governor Claiborne, " to die in the last 
ditch /-' The period of which we speak was most eventful. The 
mighty struggle that had convulsed Europe was at the end. The 
Child of Destiny, the Terror of Legitimists had become the Exile 
of Elba, and the untrammelled energies, the great resources of Bri- 
tain could now be concentrated for the annihilation of our country. 
Timid men feared, bold men wavered, and all felt that a crisis was 
at hand. The metropolis of the United States had been a short 
time before sacked, under circumstances which would have done 
honour to an Alaric or an Attila. The horrors of Hampton and 
Havre de Grace had exhibited the ruthless spirit by which the 
enemy was animated. On New Orleans the British government 



128 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

determined the first great blow should fall. Alison, in his "His 
tory of Europe," observes : " This rising town, which then num 
bered 17,000 inhabitants, was not a place of warlike preparations ; 
but it was the great emporium of the cotton trade of the southern 
states, and it was supposed, not without reason, that the capture of 
a city which commanded the whole navigation of the Mississippi, 
would prove the most sensible blow to the resources of the Ameri- 
can government, as well as furnish a rich booty to the captors." 
To inflict that blow, and secure that booty, a powerful armament 
was fitted out under the command of the most accomplished leaders 
of Britain. With 14,000 men, the veterans of Wellington, the in- 
vincibles of the Peninsula — with every engine of destruction the 
art of modern warfare could invent, it hovered on the coast, pre- 
pared to launch its thunders upon the devoted city ! But Andrew 
Jackson was the man whom the Supreme Disposer of events had 
interposed between his country and impending peril ! 

" Such men are raised lo station and command, 
When Providence means mercy to a land, 
He speaks, and they appear; to him they owe 
Skill to direct, and strength to strike the blow; 
To manage with address, to seize with power 
The crisis of a dark decisive hour." 

It was not from the formidable force and vindictive spirit of the 
invaders that General Jackson had most to apprehend. There 
were circumstances which imparted perils the most imminent to 
the difficulties of his position. The city, whose defence was com- 
mitted to his charge, contained a mixed population of French, 
Spaniards, and discontented Creoles. Having been recently an- 
nexed to the United States, her people had not become nationalized. 
The wealthy looked to their property, and thought to save it by 
capitulation — the masses were little attached to the new institu- 
tions, and most believed, that the soldier who had withstood the 
rifles of the Indians would fall before the thunders of the British 
ordnance ! The troops of the invader came fresh from the Penin- 
sula war, flushed with victory, and the question would rise unbid- 
den even to the patriot's lips. " Can militia with the Indian war- 
rior at their head, stand before the well-appointed veterans of Eng- 
land under the lead of her most accomplished commanders ?" So 
rife was the spirit of disaffection, that Governor Claiborne wrote to 
General Jackson — " Enemies of the country may blame your prompt 
and energetic measures, but in the person of every patriot you will 
find a supporter. I think with you, our country is filled with 
' traitors and spies? " In despite of all precautions, the general 
found that intelligence of his every movement was conveyed to the 
enemy. It was in truth " a dark decisive hour" in which he was 
called to strike for his country. But his ability proved equal to 



McAllister's eulogy. 129 

the occasion, and his courage mounted with every emergency. 
His capacity, like the fairy tent, seemed to enlarge so as to contain 
all it was necessary to comprehend. His first effort was to quell 
treason at home. He declared martial law. His next, to break 
the charms of British invincibility. This he effected by his cele- 
brated attack on the night of the 23d of December, 1814. A 
second battle, fought on the 28th of the same month, gave assur- 
ance to hope, and animated anew the courage of his men. But it 
was reserved for the ever memorable 8th of January, to fill the 
measure of Jackson's honour, and his country's glory. Nine thou- 
sand veterans with the appalling battle-cry of " Beauty and Booty," 
advanced upon the American lines! The story of that day is 
known to the world. The sun which dawned upon it shed its set- 
ting rays on a city saved from plunder — rescued from pollution ! 
The " Historic Muse," proud of the deeds and name of the patriot de- 
fender, "guarding and immortalizing her treasure" shall march 
down the course of time, imparting it to generations yet unborn ! 

We pass over the campaign of General Jackson in 1817—18 
against the Seminoles, enough having been said to enable us to form 
some estimate of the debt of gratitude due for his services in the 
field, and at the same time evince the genius and character of the 
man. The salient points in his character are numerous. In the 
brief analysis we propose to give of it, we shall direct your atten- 
tion to three of the most commanding. The events of his military 
career develope — enthusiasm, promptitude in action, and inflexi- 
bility of purpose. The ardour with which, within thirteen days 
after the declaration of war, he sought to serve his country — the 
alacrity with which he responded to the call of his state when the 
rifle and tomahawk had desolated the frontiers of the South — the 
zeal with which he repeatedly proffered his services, and the eager- 
ness he manifested to march at the head of his detachment from the 
banks of the Mississippi to those of the Detroit, to plant the Ameri- 
can standard on the ramparts of Maiden — the indomitable spirit 
which animated him in his Indian campaigns, though prostrated by 
physical debility, all attest the enthusiasm of the soldier, the inex- 
tinguishable ardour of the man ! 

Promptitude in action was no less developed in his military con- 
duct. Whether we view in him the boy of the Revolution, aroused 
from his midnight slumber, rushing to the post of danger, challeng- 
ing and firing upon the advancing foe — whether we accompany 
him in his Indian expedition, quelling mutinies, following the sav- 
ages through an inhospitable wilderness, with conflict after conflict, 
until their power was annihilated in the decisive battle of the 
Horseshoe — or, whether we see him at New Orleans adopting those 
" prompt and energetic measures," as they were termed by Go- 
vernor Claiborne, which quelled treason at home, and beat back 



130 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

the invaders from abroad, we find a promptitude and decision in 
action unsurpassed in military annals. But it is the inflexibility of 
purpose, the indomitable will, which beings out in bold relief the 
character of this wonderful man. Courage of the loftiest kind was 
his. We speak not of that mere insensibility to danger which be- 
longs to the brute as well as the man, and is the result of mere 
physical organization ; but of that noble faculty of the mind which, 
poising itself on the emergency of the moment, fearless of conse- 
quences, uninfluenced by clamour, moves steadily onward to the 
accomplishment of its purpose. This it is which places the name 
of Andrew Jackson high on the scroll of fame, constituting; him not 
only the successful warrior, but entitling him to the name of great! 
His refusal to disband his men in obedience to the order of govern- 
ment, when honour, policy, and humanity forbade compliance — 
his invasion of the Spanish territory when his country's peril de- 
manded he " should take the responsibility upon himself" — his 
declaration of martial law amid the disaffected population of New 
Orleans, with the certainty that success alone could still the clam- 
our of the " fireside patriots" of his country — all proclaim him a 
man above his fellows, sent by heaven to save that country! 
Around the grave of such a warrior his countrymen will gather 
without distinction of party, and while they drop the tributary tear, 
exclaim — " Beneath this turf there sleeps a hero !" 

" Let laurels, drenched in pure Parnassian dews, 
Reward his memory, dear to every muse, 
Who, with a courage of unshaken root. 
In honour's field advancing his firm foot, 
Plants it upon the line that Justice draws, 
And will prevail, or perish in her cause." 

Turn we now from the blood-stained records of national strife, 
to peruse the volume of civil life. The victorious general retires 
to his farm ; but the grateful people of Tennessee again call him to 
the Senate of the United States. In 1824, a majority of the nation 
expressed a wish through the electoral colleges to elevate him to 
the exalted station of the presidency, a station, to use his own lan- 
guage, " neither to be sought nor avoided." That wish, however, 
was frustrated by causes to which we forbear allusion, and another 
was placed in the presidential chair. At the next election the 
people spoke in a manner not to be misunderstood, and by a vote 
in the colleges of 178 to 83, Andrew Jackson was called to preside 
over the country whose armies he had led to victory. His ad- 
ministration met with the approbation of the nation, and he was 
enthusiastically re-elected, receiving 219 out of the 261 electoral 
votes. His government partook of the characteristics of the man. 
Vigour was impressed upon its councils. France yielded her re- 
luctant treasure to our just demands, and the attitude of our coun- 



McAllister's eulogy. 131 

try commanded the respect of foreign nations. His policy at home 
seemed to have for its objects to confine the action of the federal 
government within the limits prescribed by the constitution, and to 
prevent the aggregation of the moneyed interests in the few. He 
knew that " Gold is the architect of power," and dreaded its influence 
upon the characters of his countrymen, and with it that baneful 
passion for gain which degrades a nation and converts freemen into 
speculators. His opposition to the incorporation of the moneyed 
power, raised up enemies more formidable than the foreign foe he 
had so gloriously vanquished. Amid the strife of contending par- 
ties, while many yielded and all wavered, he stood himself the bul- 
wark of what he deemed the interests of the people against the 
gigantic power of monopoly ! 

" Et cuncta terrarum subacta 
PraHer atrocem animum Catonis." 

We desire not on an occasion like the present, to discuss parties 
or their measures. We would not strike one discordant note in 
the general dirge which proclaims a patriot gone. To say that 
Andrew Jackson had faults, is simply to say that he was a man. 
Those faults never deprived him of the confidence of the people. 
He retired from the helm of state followed by the affections and 
admiration of a vast majority of the nation. So intimately was 
patriotism interwoven with the whole texture of the man, that 
neither age nor approaching death could rend it from its fabric, 
and from his seclusion his voice was raised in accents of warning 
to his beloved country. On one great question which has recently 
agitated the national councils, it was heard, and as of old, impressed 
itself upon the hearts of the people. When our institutions shall 
have been extended, and the American eagle spread his pinions 
over a territory, on which transatlantic policy would fain have 
established its domination : to the patriot sage of the Hermitage 
will be due in part, the merit of the great political achievement. 

Hitherto the conquests of this great man had been confined to 
the enemies of his country. In his retirement he engages a more 
stubborn foe, and acquires his most glorious victory. 

" His warfare is within. There unfaiigued 
His fervent spirit labours. There he fights, 
And there obtains fresh triumphs o'er himself, 
And never withering wreaths, compared with which 
The laurels that a Cssar reaps are weeds." 

Having by the glorious example of his life taught his country- 
men how to live, it was reserved for this extraordinary man by the 
instructive lesson of his death, to teach them how to die. The 
noble Roman, when death became inevitable, drew his robe around 
him to die with decency — the aged patriot clothed himself in the 



132 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

garment of faith to die with a Christian's hope. Fear found no 
place in the bosom of that stern old man. Hypocrisy was alien 
from his nature. This offering of himself, therefore, was the tri- 
bute of the heart paid by the creature to his Creator. That spirit 
which had never quailed in the presence of man, became broken 
and contrite before the Father of Spirits ! 

While the perusal of his life inculcates our duty to our country, 
the teachings of his dying hour appeal to us with urgent power. 
" Call no man happy until you know the nature of his death," 
was the saying of the Athenian sage. Standing by the grave of 
him whom we deplore, we can say, with confidence, his life was 
glorious, his death was happy. Such was he, the warrior, the 
statesman, and the patriot, who has obeyed nature's last great in- 
exorable mandate. The ceremonies of this day — the badges of 
mourning by which we are surrounded — the cypress wreath we 
have woven to deck his tomb, attest our sorrow. But ours is but a 
single note in the national requiem. The whole country will 
cherish him dead who, living, loved her with his heart's devotion. 
His memory will be enshrined, and when the strifes, the passions, 
and the men of the present day shall have passed away, the name, 
services, and character of Andrew Jackson, shall be viewed by 
those who come after us, as land-marks in the waste of the past to 
connect it with their love, gratitude, and admiration ! 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT INDIANAPOLIS, JUNE 28, 1845, 



BY 



A. F. MORRISON, Esq. 



Fellow-Citizens : — An interesting and solemn event has caused 
this vast multitude to assemble. The unerring shaft of death, the 
conqueror of conquerors, has, at length, reached the heart of 
Andrew Jackson, and a nation mourns the loss of a cherished and 
favourite son. His eventful and valuable life was brought to a 
close at the Hermitage, near Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday even- 
ing, the 8th day of June instant, at b* o'clock. He expired in the 
full possession of his senses, surrounded b)' his friends, expressing 
the highest confidence in a happy immortality. On Tuesday even- 
ing, after appropriate funeral services were performed, his mortal 
remains were deposited in the vault prepared for his resting-place, 
by the side of the wife of his bosom, whom he most affectionately 
loved. 

Thus has calmly and peacefully terminated the mortal existence 
of a great, a good, and a wonderful man. He was born in the 
Waxhaw settlement, in South Carolina, on the loth day of March, 
1767, and at the day of his decease was seventy-eight years, two 
months, and twenty-four days old. 

Well might the most competent and the most learned shrink 
from the task of attempting to prepare a eulogy upon the life and 
character of " the man of the Hermitage." No new field is left to 
be explored, no new compliment can be framed, no new honour 
can, at this day, be added to the chaplet which adorns his brow. 
Each page of the history of his country is replete with commenda- 
tions of his character, and abounds with the records of his fame. 
For nearly three-fourths of a century, Andrew Jackson has enacted 
a prominent part on the theatre of life, and for many years has 
stood as a connecting link between the past and the present. His 
mighty name has had a talismanic effect upon the feelings of his 
12 033) 



134 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

countrymen. His mighty deeds have filled with wonder and ad- 
miration the inhabitants of America and of Europe. What new 
theme can now be touched which shall save from the charge of 
dull monotony, the effort of him who shall attempt to pass a pane- 
gyric upon the name and fame of the illustrious Jackson ? While 
such might be the cold reflections of considerate philosophy, there 
is yet a motive power of action ; there is a spring which never Iras 
failed, which never will fail, to pour forth its gushing fountains 
when the story of the renowned Jackson is repeated. That spring 
and fountain is in the swelling hearts and breasts of every true son 
of America, and of every patriot in the land. If there be one 
amonsr the aged men who hear me, if there be those amon"- the 
youth who surround me, who have not carefully read and reflected 
upon the whole history of this great man, let the old atone for such 
an ungrateful omission and the young speedily hasten to perform 
their duty, and let all who love the man and his memory, bear 
with my short effort to repeat some of the claims upon our consi- 
deration. 

The early history of Andrew Jackson is replete with interest. 
Few men, in any age of the world, were more severely inducted 
into active life, and few ever arose to marked distinction from a 
more humble origin. 

His father, although of Scotch descent, was an emigrant from 
Ireland, which country he left in consequence of the burthens and 
oppressions of the British government, and settled in South Caro- 
lina, about nine years previous to thp commencement of the Revo- 
lutionary war, where he lived only until about the time of the 
birth of his son, Andrew, of whom we now speak, so that his gifted 
historian has well remarked of General Jackson, that he was almost 
born an orphan, and won his way "from the plough to the presi- 
dency." 

The place of his residence was the seat of continual hostilities 
between the South Carolina settlers and the marauding British 
armies. An unmitigated border warfare distressed the country, and 
drew into its vortex, either as whig or tory, nearly everv indivi- 
dual capable of bearing arms. The unwise and severe course of 
the British commanders, soon aroused the latent enmity of the three 
patriot brothers composing the whole force of the Jackson family, 
and they stood arrayed against all who opposed the cause of the 
colonies. Before young Andrew had attained his fourteenth year, 
we find him even at that tender age, bearing arms at the attack by 
Sumter upon Hanging Rock, and nobly doing duty as a soldier. 
His elder brother sacrificed his life in the exposure incident to the 
cause of the whigs : Andrew and his remaining brother were 
sought out and captured, and carried as British prisoners to Cam- 
den, where they were rigorously treated and abused. They were 



»,J 



MORRISON S EULOGY. 



135 



compelled to suffer the worst of hardships and privations, such as 
so signally disgraced the conduct of British officers to American 
prisoners. It was during this captivity that General Jackson 
proudly refused to perform menial services for a British officer, and 
for which refusal he was smitten with a sword, and carried the 
scar to his grave. His brother, also, was required to do the same 
service, and refusing, the same sword inflicted a wound upon his 
head which subsequently caused his death. In all of the various 
incidents of this protracted warfare, which drew forth the abilities 
and patriotic devotion of Sumter, Greene, Marion, Davie, and 
others, on the side of the Americans, and the skill, courage, and 
cruelty of Cornwallis, Tarleton, and Rawdon, as British leaders, 
young Jackson was ever active and vigilant. His peculiar cool- 
ness and decision, when attacked at Land's house, was another in- 
stance of his indomitable courage and disregard of personal safety. 
There, by his individual tact and bravery, he saved his companions 
in arms, and astonished his confederates by his undaunted prowess. 
Shortly after his release from Camden, his excellent mother sick- 
ened and died, while engaged in the service of her country, in en- 
deavouring to procure the release of some of his friends and rela- 
tives who were also subjected to British cruelty and confinement. 

In a short time after these events, the war in the South was 
concluded, and Andrew Jackson turned his attention to the study 
of the law, at Salisbury, North Carolina, under the instruction of 
Spruce McCay, Esq., a distinguished lawyer and judge. He was 
then between 17 and 18 years of age. He finished his studies 
under Colonel Stokes, and in about two years was licensed as a 
practitioner. He soon afterwards, without solicitation on his part, 
was appointed solicitor for the Western District of North Carolina, 
which is the present state of Tennessee. 

On his arrival at his western home he soon became the favourite 
of the people; not, however, without passing through severe hard- 
ships, and encountering strong and vindictive opposition ; but by 
his unremitted industry and daring intrepidity he succeeded in all 
his undertakings, and was beloved by his friends. Although he 
was then but 21 years old, he applied himself constantly to the 
duties of his office, and traversed the forests of the new world, 
armed at all times for his defence, depending upon his own ener- 
gies to protect him from the dangers of the savage, and the difficul- 
ties of an unsettled country. In this vocation he made no less 
than twenty-two journeys on horseback, armed, and carrying his 
own provisions, from the Cumberland, near where Nashville now 
stands, to Jonesborough, a distance of full two hundred miles, liter- 
ally surrounded with hostile Indians. General Jackson shortly 
afterwards married and settled down, devoting himself assiduously 
to the practice of the law. 



136 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

The people of Tennessee having determined to form a state go- 
vernment, a convention was called for the purpose of preparing a 
constitution, and Andrew Jackson was chosen a delegate to the 
convention. His republican sentiments were conspicuously incor- 
porated into the provisions of the instrument, as well as into the 
bill of rights which prefaced it, and presented with great clearness 
the political opinions of bis youth, which so eminently distinguished 
his more mature years. 

The state of Tennessee was admitted into tbe Union on the 1st 
of June, 1796, and General Jackson was elected as her first repre- 
sentative in Congress by general acclamation of the people, and 
took his seat on the 5th of December, 1796, where he served only 
one session. He was then without his solicitation, elected a sena- 
tor in Congress, and took his seat as such, on the 22d day of June, 
1797. Not coinciding with the then existing; administration of the 
government, he only served one session as senator, resigned his 
place, went home, and aided with all his abilities the election of 
Mr. Jefferson to the presidency. The legislature of Tennessee 
soon afterwards elected him a judge of the Supreme Court, which 
office he held until 1804, when, much against the wishes of the 
people and of his friends, he resigned the duties of that office, and 
again became a private citizen. 

From this period, with but temporary exceptions, General Jack- 
son remained at home, near the spot where the Hermitage stands, 
engaged with his own hands in the pursuits of a farmer and planter, 
and with diligent attention, reaped the rich rewards of bis care 
and industry. 

The state had conferred upon him her highest civil and military 
honours, and he then occupied the rank of major-general of militia. 
His undoubted personal courage, his enterprising character, and his 
reputation as an expert manager of Indian difficulties, all conspired 
to make him the favourite of the Tennesseeans, and gave him an 
unbounded popularity. They justly appreciated his qualities, and 
he nobly repaid their confidence. 

After bearing for years with the audacity and assumptions of 
Great Britain, which were manifested by the slaughter of our citi- 
zens, insults to our flag, aggressions upon our commerce, and the 
impressment of more than 7000 American seamen, Congress de- 
clared war against our ancient enemy on the 18th day of June, 
1812. General Jackson immediately tendered his services to his 
country, and by his great influence, induced 2500 citizen soldiers 
to place themselves at the disposal of the government under his 
command ; which tender of services Mas thankfully received by 
the president, and Mr. Madison commissioned him a n ajor-gcneral 
in the army of the I ' nited States. On the 21st of October, an order 
was issued directing the govi rnor of Tennessee to call out, organize, 



Morrison's eulogy. 137 

and equip 1500 men to reinforce General Wilkinson, then near 
New Orleans. This order was promptly obeyed, and General Jack- 
son was placed in command of the force, and on the 4th of January, 
1813, embarked for Natchez, which place they reached on the 
15th of February. Their services being unnecessary at this time, 
they were ordered to be discharged by the secretary at war, with- 
out any provision being made for their safe return to their homes. 
General Jackson perceived the hardship of the case, and at once 
determined that the men who had followed him in the discharge 
of their duty, should be protected until they could protect them- 
selves. He accordingly borrowed money, supplied their wants 
from his own means, and returned them, in a body, to their families 
and friends ; showing most conspicuously the magnanimity of his 
nature, the kindness of his heart, and the energy of his character. 
The government approved his conduct, and his fellow-citizens ap- 
plauded his generosity. 

The disgraceful tampering of the British government with the 
Indian tribes upon our borders and within our limits, soon displayed 
itself in the universal hostilities which they exhibited. The wild- 
erness regions of the new states of Alabama and Florida were 
swarming with disaffected and excited savages ; who were openly 
encouraged as the allies of England. The country was exposed to 
their cruelty and devastations. Fort Minis, near Mobile, was taken 
by them, and more than 300 whites were slaughtered. Consterna- 
tion pervaded the country, and help was loudly called for. With 
his usual alacrity, General Jackson flew to the forests of the south- 
west, backed by an army of Tennessee volunteers and militia. 
They marched under a state requisition, and were scantily furnished 
with supplies and provisions. The country was unsettled, without 
roads, and unexplored. With all the means which were within 
the reach of men, a sufficient sustenance for the troops could not 
be procured. 

Several other detachments also entered the field, and were but little 
better provided with articles of subsistence. The commissaries could 
only procure temporary and accidental supplies of forage and pro- 
visions. No precaution or prudence could obviate these difficul- 
ties. The savage foe daily became more insolent. The chafed 
spirit of Jackson and his brave followers became impatient of re- 
straint, and they resolutely penetrated the depths of the dreary 
forests, threading their trackless wastes, and stemming the torrents 
of their mighty streams. One campaign succeeded another, and 
victory followed victory. The severe service, the poor prepara- 
tion for the comfort of the troops, and the seeming neglect of the 
government, wore out the patience of the soldiers, rendering it im- 
possible to repress the disposition to disorder and mutiny. The 
terms of service were short and uncertain, and frequently, when 
12* 



138 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

their general most needed their support and the country their ser- 
vice, they were found asserting their right to return home, and 
their unwillingness to move forward. The minute history of that 
war can alone portray its terrible difficulties; but when that his- 
tory is correctly examined, it will show the peculiar character of 
General Jackson in a more enviable light, than that of any other 
general who ever conquered a savage foe on the continent of 
America. The noble deeds of daring, the indefatigable toil, the 
unlimited suffering, and the brilliant victories over the infatuated 
Creeks, show a bravery, a devoted love of country, an enduring 
heroism, equal to the most chivalric struggles of the Athenian and 
Roman armies. The laurels of Hannibal or of Csesar were never 
more daringly won, nor more strongly contested. Tallushatcliei, 
Talladega, Emu ckfair, and Tokopekc^re Indian battle-fields; but 
no more\alorous men ever met at Marathon or Thermopylae ! No 
more deadly conflict ensanguined the plains of Marengo, Austerlitz 
or Waterloo. True it is that armies were more numerous, and 
the return of the slain more lengthy and more renowned : but no 
more personal bravery, ferocious fanaticism, reckless indifference 
to life, or indiscriminate slaughter, ever marked the meeting of 
contending hosts. 

These eventful campaigns, which drove from their retreats, and 
perfectly subdued the savages of the south-west, were scarcely com- 
pleted, before the eyes of the whole nation were attracted to the 
demonstrations of a British fleet and army on its approach to the 
mouth of the Mississippi, and its intended denouement against the 
city of New Orleans. With all possible despatch the invincible 
Jackson repaired to its defence, and well was it for the safety and 
honour of the nation, that such a general was at the service of his 
country. The defence of the city of New Orleans, the means at 
the command of the general, the importance of the result, the 
astounding loss of the enemy, the almost total escape of the Ameri- 
cans, all conspire to make it one of the most remarkable victories 
in the history of the world, and have served to place the military 
renown of Andrew Jackson upon the pinnacle of the temple of fame. 
For thirty years, the glories of those clays have been the theme of 
orators, poets and statesmen, and are familiar as household words to 
every ear now present. I shall, therefore, decline a rehearsal of 
the soul-stirring details. With this great and priceless victory 
ended the principal military services of the great captain of the 
age; and he, in more than Roman glory, retired again to the peace- 
ful shades of the Hermitage, surrounded and greeted by the bless- 
ings of his grateful countrymen. Peace spread her angel wings 
over our beloved land, and prosperity soon gladdened the hearts of 
the American people. 

His vigorous and efficient prosecution of the Seminole war which 



Morrison's eulogy. 139 

afterwards disturbed our southern border, brought to a final con- 
clusion his military labours, and permitted him once more to seek 
his peaceful home, with the hope and desire of remaining amongst 
his devoted and adoring friends. But so great was the confidence 
of the President of the United States in his peculiar fitness to dis- 
charge difficult trusts, that he was appointed governor of Florida, 
which position he accepted, and patriotically rendered the most 
signal service to his country in reducing to order and submission 
those discontented and refractory spirits, who had to learn by 
restraint and obedience to law, their first lessons of American 
citizenship. Again the state of Tennessee made him her Senator 
in Congress, and again he left the shades of retirement for the busy 
scenes of public life. Soon the partialities of the American people 
were visibly seen tending towards his selection as their candidate 
for president of the United States ; and as he perceived this in- 
tended demonstration of their feelings, his nice sense of honour and 
delicacy of sentiment induced him once more to resign his office, 
and to take his position as a private citizen. 

The intermediate state of things which elevated him to the chief 
magistracy of the nation on the 4th of March, 1S29, are so recent, 
that each individual who has mature years and ordinary information, 
must be familiar with them. 

Here opened another and new field of his honourable fame. 
Here was solved the question of his capacity as a statesman. His 
integrity, his bravery, his heroism as a soldier and a general, were 
universally acknowledged and applauded ; but a new theatre was 
before him. With an honest heart and pure intentions, he entered 
upon the discharge of the duties of his high and sacred trust. With 
his whole soul filled with a pure love of his country and her insti- 
tutions ; with a full and generous trust in the wisdom and justice of 
the people, his mighty energies were alone directed to their welfare, 
and to them alone he looked for strength and support. From his 
earliest youth to his latest years, he formed his own judgments and 
examined all questions for himself, and when convinced of the 
correctness of his premises, he faithfully pursued his conclusions. 
In this consisted the main secret of his overshadowing greatness. 
His known rectitude of intention gained him the confidence of his 
fellow-citizens, and it was the pride of his life that he never de- 
ceived that confidence. The agitating questions which marked his 
administration, are in some measure, still before the eyes of the 
nation, and the decisions of some of them are still viewed with 
different optics. Time and impartial history will do justice to the 
prophetic wisdom, the mature reason, and patriotic labours of his 
government. 

Conspicuous in the labour's of that day will stand his great con- 
flict with the colossal influence of the money-power of the nation, 



140 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

in opposition to tho rights and privileges of the people. No other 
man than Andrew Jackson, hacked as he was, by the people, would 
have been potent enough to have humbled that haughty power in 
the dust. His acts, which resulted in restricting its dangerous 
issues, and protecting the revenues of the nation ; together with his 
veto upon its charter, proved his great sagacity, his incorruptible 
firmness, and his deep and abiding devotion to principle. 

His unyielding opposition to latitudinarian constructions of the 
constitution, whereby the treasures of the country were to be ap- 
plied to internal improvements, and favourite objects of visionary 
speculation, doubtless saved the general government from the same 
character of overwhelming embarrassment which has so unhappily 
fallen upon many of the separate states of the Union. 

His high and patriotic stand taken in support of the Union 
against the secession of one of its members, for supposed wrongs, 
will long be viewed as an evidence of the great regard he enter- 
tained for the perpetuity of the confederation, and his determina- 
tion to sustain the laws, which, as chief executive, he was bound 
to see faithfully executed, marked with startling interest the event 
of his proclamation. 

It was with the most peculiar satisfaction that President Jackson 
was enabled to exhibit to the world the rare spectacle of a great 
nation existing without owing a dollar of national debt ; and he 
rejoiced in being able to announce to his fellow-countrymen, that 
all the pecuniary obligations incurred in the prosecution of the war 
of independence had been faithfully and religiously paid. 

His manly and decisive course in hastening the performance of 
the obligations of the treaty with France, gave proof to the nations 
of the world, that although we were disposed " to ask for nothing 
but what was right, we would submit to nothing which was 
wrong." 

The great experience of his life led him to deep reflection upon 
the best mode of ameliorating the condition, and prolonging the ex- 
istence of the Aboriginal tribes. And his zealous exertions in 
furnishing permanent homes for the Indians west of the Mississippi, 
showed the philanthrophy of his nature and the sincerity of his 
heart. 

His many public and private charities, though numerous, and 
generously extended, were unostentatious and frequently concealed. 
He was no Pharisee, and sought not his reward in such cases, from 
the hands of men. 

These leading measures and principles were the distinguishing 
points which signalized both the first and second terms of his service 
as president. During their discussion and settlement, the greatest 
excitement existed throughout the community, and their riifluences 
have scarcely ceased to operate in the minds of the public. It:- 



Morrison's eulogv. 141 

deed, it may be truly said, that the measures which characterized 
the chief magistracy of Andrew Jackson, have left an abiding im- 
pression upon the policy of the country. Political dogmas which 
had grown gray in error and sufferance, were, by the impulses of 
his mighty mind, exploded and terminated. No man ever filled the 
presidential chair who more fully met the expectations of his friends, 
or more triumphantly succeeded in the fulfilment of his political 
designs. No man was ever more devotedly sustained by the people, 
and no one ever laboured more assiduously, fearlessly, and patrioti- 
cally to uphold and promote their rights and welfare. The purity 
of his motives, the necessity of his unyielding policy, and the 
benefits flowing and to flow from them, are already being manifested, 
and will continue to shed a brighter and more radiant halo around 
his beloved name, so long as our countrymen uphold and reverence 
the true democratic doctrine of " equal rights, and equal privileges." 

After having spent nearly the whole of his long and valuable life 
in the service of his country, he bid a final adieu to public life on 
the 3d of March, 1837, leaving his countrymen, as he well ex- 
pressed himself, " prosperous and happy." 

Amidst the scenes of his early years, in the company of his old 
friends and neighbours, at his own loved Hermitage, he has since 
passed, in happy tranquillity, the remaining days of his life. There, 
in his last retirement, his active mind has been diligently occupied 
in the contemplation of the condition of the nation, and his warn- 
ing voice has been heard, advising a strict vigilance over her in- 
terests. As a philosopher and a sage, his words have sunk deep 
into the hearts of the people, and his last days have been comforted 
in the belief and prospect that all will be well, according to the 
desire of his heart. 

As he was glorious in life, so has he been great in his death. 
With Christian fortitude and patience he endured the afflictions of 
the body, and with a Christian's hope he joyfully obeyed the sum- 
mons of his Lord and Master, " to depart and be in peace." A 
nation's prayers have ascended for him ; a nation's sympathies 
have been blended with his sufferings; — and a nation mourns the 
death of its most illustrious citizen. The sleep of death is upon 
him. 

That noble heart which never quailed in the presence of danger; 
which ever sympathised with the woes of the oppressed, and most 
tenderly burned with patriotic devotion to its country's service, 
now quietly rests with the clods of the valley. 

The character of Andrew Jackson is peculiar in itself. It com- 
bines so many of the elements of true greatness, that it is difficult 
to place its separate qualities in proper relief. There may be those 
who will most prize him as a general, and there will be others 
who will more highly esteem him as a statesman. That one man 



142 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

should so eminently present such claims to the admiration of his 
fellow-citizens, is almost a phenomenon in the order of nature. 
Time alone can establish the true measure of his greatness. 

He has bequeathed a rich patrimony to his country and to the 
world. It will be the proud duty of his countrymen to cherish 
and perpetuate it to the latest posterity. 

Ages may revolve before such another spirit shall claim a place 
on the stage of life. Ambitious to be great, he was never accused 
of selfishness. Although frequently the recipient of the highest 
honours, he never condescended to court or seek them. His soul 
abhorred deceit, and his tongue always spoke the truth. Mercy 
was with him a darling attribute, and his personal honour, a price- 
less jewel. A strong desire for the amelioration of the condition 
of mankind, a liberal and tolerant disposition, and an expanded 
charity, characterised his life. Inflexibly just in his decisions, 
stern in the execution of his decrees, he never swerved from prin- 
ciple. With a sensitive mind and excitable feelings, he blended a 
due share of caution and an admirable systematic control of his 
passions. He was not easily turned aside from his purposes, de- 
ceived by specious appearances, nor misled by stratagems. An in- 
tuitive perception of right and wrong enabled him to comprehend 
easily the most difficult questions, where his cotemporaries were 
compelled to labour and investigate. Almost reared in the camp, 
and familiar with scenes of contention and bloodshed, he highly 
estimated the blessings of peace, when compatible with the honour 
of the nation. His energetic decision and boldness enabled him to 
accomplish astonishing results by a single effort. He never con- 
sulted his personal ease or safety in the consummation of his de- 
signs. The fame of his country was as dear to him as the apple of 
his eye, and under the folds of her standards, and the gaze of her 
eagles, he always carried his life in his hand, ready to yield it up 
in defence of her honour. He never unfurled his country's banner 
upon a battle-field, without covering it with victory and with 
glory. 

As a statesman, he never urged an issue upon the consideration 
of the nation without ably sustaining his position, and never failed 
in carrying conviction of its correctness to the minds of the people. 
Hence was he denominated "the man of the irori-viU." 

The aged sire, as he holds upon his knee the child of his affec- 
tion, will teach him to revere and cherish the recollections of this 
mighty man. The candid citizen, as he muses upon the patriotic 
labours of this illustrious sage, will feel the involuntary emotions 
of gratitude springing up in his heart. The matron and the maiden, 
when they review the brilliant exploits of this heroic general, in 
the protection of their land from the calamities of invasion, will 
rise up and call him blessed. The brave soldier of the American 



Morrison's eulogy. 143 

army, with a worthy spirit of emulation, will look upon his ex- 
ample and renown as the dearest objects of his regard, prompting 
him to a willing discharge of his duty. The statesman and the 
patriot will find instructive lessons in his life, and in the wisdom 
of his counsel. The highest honours of the land have crowned 
him whilst living. His cenotaph is the love of his countrymen. 
His monument will be a holy remembrance in the hearts of the 
American people. 

In response to the sentiments and feelings of the whole nation, 
the proper authorities of the country have directed the most dis- 
tinguished national honours to his revered name, and have spoken 
in the most enthusiastic and eloquent terms of his many virtues. 
Well have they judged of the sacred devotion to his memory. A 
mighty nation bows in grief to the stern decree which calls from 
his earthly labours, him for whom we weep ; because he so well 
loved us. 

One last sacred duty devolves upon us as American citizens. 
Let us, with enduring fidelity, guard from reproach and aspersion, 
the glorious name and character which he has bequeathed to our 
keeping and protection. As we receive the rich legacy of his 
faithful services, so let us treasure his good name ; and posterity, 
as they succeed us on the theatre of existence, will continue to 
ascribe immortal honours to the immortal Jackson ! 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT HARRISBURG, PA, JULY 24, 1815, 



BY 



FRANCIS R. SHUNK, 

GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OP PENNSYLVANIA. 



The deep solemnity produced by the religious fervour of the 
comprehensive and appropriate appeal, which has been made to 
the God we worship and adore, leads us to the contemplation of 
the character and services of our illustrious countryman, whose 
funeral obsequies we have met to celebrate, with proper feelings, 
and supplies the imperfection of the sketch I am about to give of 
his merits. 

It may well be remarked, with pride and satisfaction, that the 
great men to whom we are indebted, under Heaven, for our civil 
and religious rights, were generally pure. Virtue and goodness in 
them sustained their patriotism, heroism, and devotion to the public 
good ; and while their public services are appreciated, their private 
lives are examples for imitation. 

Those adventurous spirits, who founded the nation, whose ac- 
tions fill the pages of history with a romance that needs not the 
imaginings of the past to inspire the mind with wonder and admi- 
ration — who tore themselves away from early associations — brushed 
from their eyes the tear of regret which arose upon casting a last 
look at the graves of their ancestors, and the homes of their child- 
hood — who sought and found a new country, and founded a new 
nation upon which they deeply enstamped the features of their 
own individuality, have for ages slept in their graves; but their 
achievements, their valor, and their devotion to liberty — the re- 
ligion, virtue and morality that adorned their lives, are cherished 
and revered by their descendants. 

When the government of England sought to appropriate the 
risin°" ereatnoss of this countr}' to itself, and strip the people of 

044) 



EULOGY. 145 

essential rights, men arose in our midst, as good as they were great, 
in whom the public confidence centred, and by whom the freemen 
of the country were represented in the field and in council — men 
whose lives are the pride and ornament of this republic, and whose 
actions fill the brightest pages in the history of the world. Wash- 
ington, Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson, and many others, are names 
distinguished for virtue, disinterestedness, and patriotism. Guided 
by a light from Heaven, unerring as its source, and animated by a 
love of liberty, as pure as it was ardent, they established our liberty 
and impressed upon our institutions the wisdom, the forecast, and the 
purity of their own great minds. They, too, are all gone to the 
silence of the grave, but their fame will be ever fresh, while mind 
and memory last. 

The freedom which they secured was the first great advance 
that had, for ages, heen made in the science of government. The. 
light it diffused upon a subject so interesting to mankind, provoked 
the hostility of those whose possessions depended upon the oppres- 
sion of the race — an opposition like that which ignorance wages 
against the lights of true philosophy — an enmity like that which 
pagan superstition cherishes towards the blessed influences of the 
Christian faith. 

During the thirty years which followed the peace of 1783, the 
conduct of England towards these states was repugnant to the ac- 
knowledgments she had made. The time arrived when longer to 
follow peaceful counsels was faithlessness to the true interests of 
the country, and war was declared against England in 1812. 

It is a cherished maxim of despotism, that the strength of go- 
vernment consists in its power to rule, independently of the peo- 
ple ; and the conclusion which tyranny drew from it, was, that 
our system would be crumbled to pieces by the shock of war, and 
that our resort to arms would extinguish the light our government 
reflected to guide the oppressed. A great question was to be de- 
cided : the eyes of the civilized world were upon us — monarchs, 
and people of all nations, where the story of American liberty had 
been told, regarded the result with intense anxiety. 

The principal lights in the war of the Revolution had been 
quenched by death — the knowledge of the art which that revolu- 
tion had taught, was lost in the peaceful pursuits of the nation for 
thirty years, or was only remembered by the remnant of that gal- 
lant band, who felt that time had chilled the ardour and paralyzed 
the energies of youth. The crisis had arrived when a nation, 
proud of its origin, proud of the brilliant talents and services of 
the men that adorned its annals, proud of its inestimable rights anc 
unlimited freedom, was to determine whether the organic struc- 
ture of its government could be sustained in the conflict of war, 
and whether, among the descendants of the great and good, who 
13 



146 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

shined like stars in its firmament, men would arise to preserve and 
perpetuate its institutions, with hands as strong;, hearts as pure, and 
minds as clear, as were those of the men who laid their broad foun- 
dations, and who would in their turn shine as stars in the firma- 
ment of liberty. 

Here we reach the point in our history, where, for the first time, 
the man whose death we have assembled to commemorate, appears 
distinctly before the American people, to commence a career of 
usefulness, of heroism, and of devotion to his country, which give 
him a rank with the great men who founded the nation, with the 
great men who achieved our independence, and with the great men 
who laid broader and deeper the foundations of liberty during, and 
since, the war of 1812. 

Andrew Jackson was born in the state of South Carolina, of 
Irish parents, on the 15th of March, 1767. He was permitted in 
his youth to witness some of the stormy scenes of that revolution 
which secured the independence of his country. He was himself 
engaged as a volunteer under Colonel Davie, in a battle fought with 
the British in South Carolina, on the 16th of August, 1780, when 
he was between thirteen and fourteen years of age. The corps of 
Davie, in which young Jackson fought, says the historian, particu- 
larly distinguished itself, and suffered heavy loss. In 1781, he 
received a wound from a British officer, for refusing, while a pri- 
soner of war, to clean the boots of the insolent ruffian. In 1788, 
he migrated to Tennessee, where he was soon after appointed at- 
torney-general of the district, by Washington. In 1795, he was 
elected a member of the convention to form a constitution for the 
state. In 1796, he was elected a member of the House of Repre- 
sentatives in Congress. In 1797, he was elected by the legisla- 
ture of the state, a member of the Senate of the United States. 
In 1798, he was appointed judge of the Supreme Court of law and 
equity of the state. In 1801, he was appointed major-general 
of the militia of the state. In 1814, he was appointed a major- 
general in the army of the United States. In 1821, he was ap- 
pointed governor of Florida. In 1823, he was appointed minister 
to Mexico, which he declined, and in the same year he was elected 
a member of the Senate of the United States. In 1828, he was 
elected president of the United States ; and in 1832 he was re- 
elected. On the 8th of June, 1845, he died, full of years, full of 
honour, and full of hope of immortal happiness. 

Jackson's first appearance as a military chief, was as commander 
of the troops levied to carry on the war with the Indians of the 
South. These red men of the forest were organized and trained by 
leaders in whom were united the double influence of chiefs and of 
prophets, and who controlled the religious as well as military ardour 
of the people in a war against the United States, in which they 



shunk's eulogy. 147 

were encouraged and aided by British agents. They presented a 
formidable power, which made its demonstrations in acts of savage 
cruelty, inflicted upon the border inhabitants. To reduce this 
power and protect our citizens, a force was organized, under the 
direction and control of General Jackson. 

A subtle enemy had to be discovered in the recesses of his own 
forest, and pursued through a wilderness with which experience 
made him familiar, and gave him the full advantage of his peculiar 
mode of warfare ; and this with troops hastily levied, imperfectly 
disciplined, and inadequately supplied. Success, to be desirable, 
must be decisive. It was necessary, in order that savage ferocity 
might be overawed, that the irresistible power of the American 
army should be demonstrated. All these objects were attained, by 
the indomitable energy and consummate skill of the American 
commander. The foe was discovered in his most secret retreats, 
pursued with unceasing activity, defeated in repeated battles, the 
frontier relieved from its alarm, and the enemy reduced to 
submission. 

The quality, the greatest quality of the general, that of inspiring 
his men with his own enthusiasm and energy — that presence of mind 
which instantaneously, in the greatest emergency, makes use of all, 
and the most appropriate means within its reach — patience under 
fatigue and suffering, which he shared equally with his men — firm- 
ness in suppressing mutiny, and silencing discontent, and harmo- 
nizing discord — activity in pursuit — a happy combination of wari- 
ness and boldness in his plans — dauntless courage in action, and 
consummate skill in securing the great ends of the campaign with 
inadequate means, give Jackson a reputation in this war, to which 
the victory of Orleans itself could scarcely add lustre. It is not 
always when the numerical force of armies is the greatest, or the 
object in controversy of the most stupendous magnitude, that the 
skill of the general is put to the severest test. The victory of Or- 
leans has resounded more throughout the world, it is more familiar 
to men than those of Talladega, Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka, but 
Jackson only displayed there the same qualities on another theatre, 
under different circumstances, and against a different foe ; although 
in the one campaign the savage only was reduced to submission, 
and in the other, the pride of England was humbled, a city saved 
from pillage, and the enemy expelled from the Mississippi. The 
campaign of Italy has contributed more to the fame of Napoleon, 
than those of Austerlitz and Jena, although by the one, a few pro- 
vinces of Italy only were annexed to the French empire, while in 
the other, two great military monarchies were stricken to the earth, 
and the balance of power in Europe unsettled. 

The achievement which has diffused the military fame of General 



148 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Jackson throughout the world, and made the 8th of January one 
of the great days of the republic, is the victory of Orleans. 

The history of this glorious victory is too familiar to all to be 
dwelt upon here. We all know how treason was overawed — how 
the murmurs of discontent were silenced — how all the resources of 
defence were developed and applied — how a panic-stricken popu- 
lation were encouraged and animated with the spirit of his own 
patriotism — with what noble self-devotion, responsibility was as- 
sumed — the sagacity with which the designs of the enemy were 
penetrated, and the boldness with which they were met, and how 
the enemy, baffled on the 23d of December, were immolated on 
the 8th of January. 

We have often rejoiced, and our posterity shall rejoice, for all 
time to come, that an American commander has contributed to 
military history, a victory unparalleled in her annals. Behold a 
line of American troops, some not wearing even the livery of war, 
arrayed, animated, and directed, by the genius of one man, await- 
ing the assault of 9000 English veterans, and driving them back 
terror-stricken and disorganized : and despair not of the ability of a 
nation of freemen to defend their country. 

Let it not be said that the voice of accusation is heard mingling 
with the plaudits of his countrymen — nor let this illustrious patriot 
be accused of trampling upon the constitution of his country, in the 
very hour when he perilled life and reputation to defend it. The 
declaration of martial law by General Jackson (an act which has 
been criticized if not censured), was not the exercise of capricious 
despotism — it was one of the indispensable means of this glorious 
defence. An emergency had arisen when the constitution imposed 
silence upon herself, and became subordinate to a paramount, im- 
perious law of necessity. This is another proof of the adequacy 
of this great heart to all the exigencies of war. When the danger 
had passed, and the constitution was no longer silent, amid the din 
of arms, he recognised her voice, submitted cheerfully to the 
authority of a civil magistrate, and restrained the indignation which 
his unjust decision excited. He lived to hear the voice of his 
country reverse his decree, and set the seal of approbation upon his 
conduct. 

This victory spread the military reputation of General Jackson 
throughout the world. After a few years of service in the army, 
during which his talents and energy were again called in requisition 
by a war with the Seminole Indians, which he soon brought to a 
successful ^conclusion, he retired to the shades of the Hermitage, 
where he remained in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, with the 
exception of a short period while he was governor of Florida, and 
senator of the United States, until he was called, by the voice of 



EULOGY. 149 

the American people, to assume the duties of the highest office in 
their gift. 

Whatever differences may exist among his countrymen, in regard 
to some measures of his administration, it must be admitted by all, 
that the same courageous assumption of responsibility — the same 
patriotism — the same energy and decision — the same honesty of 
purpose — and the same devotion to the constitution and the Union, 
which distinguished him as a general, he displayed as a statesman. 
During his administration, questions arose which agitated the whole 
community. Even the Union itself was threatened, and gave 
occasion for an exhibition of devotion to its preservation, which 
commanded universal applause. It may well be added, as a re- 
markable truth, that all the leading measures of his administration, 
whatever differences of opinion may have existed at the time, 
have been finally approved by the people. 

From the commencement of this government, the union of the 
states was an object of the greatest anxiety with all our patriots 
and statesmen. Jackson's whole life and conduct bear testimony 
to his fixedness of purpose to sustain this vital interest of our com- 
munity of states, which, however slightly it may be valued by 
some, has been regarded, and is regarded by our greatest, best, and 
wisest patriots, as the foundation upon which we must rest for the 
perpetuity of our free institutions. The union of the states, ce- 
mented by the constitution, creating general powers for the pro- 
tection and security of all, and yet reserving to the several states 
that essential sovereignty which is consistent with the powers 
granted to the general government, is that perfection of wisdom, 
which has, for nearly sixty years, secured to the people of these 
states a degree of unexampled liberty and prosperity. It has dif- 
fused its blessings throughout the nation. Under its mild and ex- 
pansive influence, this people have advanced in all that dignifies 
and adorns our nature. Knowledge and the arts are cherished. 
Comfort and abundance are the sure rewards of honesty and indus- 
try, and the religion of the Redeemer, uncontaminated by any 
meretricious connexion with the government — resting upon its 
essential divinity — sheds its mild and humanizing and heavenly 
light upon man's pathway through life, and enables him, by the 
hopes of a sure inspiration, to look for a place of blissful rest be- 
yond the grave. 

The father of his coutitry has, with great force, earnestness, 
and zeal, enforced the duty of cherishing and preserving this union 
of the states. He says : 

" The unity of government which constitutes you one people, 

is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in 

the edifice of your independence, the support of your tranquillity 

at home, your peace abroad, of vour safety, of your prosperity, of 

13* 



150 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to 
foresee, that, from different causes, and from various quarters, much 
iain8 will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your 
minds the conviction of this truth ; as this is the point in your 
political fortress, against which the batteries of internal and exter- 
nal enemies will be most constant^ and actively (though often 
covertly and insidiously) directed : it is of infinite moment, that 
you should properly estimate the immense value of your National 
Union, to your collected and individual happiness — that you should 
cherish a cordial, habitual, and immoveable attachment to it, accus- 
toming yourselves to think and speak of it as the palladium of your 
political safety and prosperity." 

Faithful to the constitution, consistent with himself, and true to 
his country, Andrew Jackson maintained the sanctity of the Union, 
in an emergency when it was dangerously threatened. Animated 
and instructed by the counsels, and reverencing the example of 
Washington, when in 1S32, the state of South Carolina attempted 
to nullify the laws of the United States, and advanced the doctrine 
that she had an independent right to secede from the Union, he 
"frowned indignantly upon the first dawning of the attempt to 
alienate a portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the 
sacred ties which link together the various parts ;" while he was 
anxious to redress the wrongs of which they had just cause to com- 
plain, his decision was clear that, as long as the law remained, it 

MUST BE OBEYED. 

The bold and determined course of the state of South Carolina, 
the intelligence and chivalric spirit of her sons, who were prompt 
in sustaining it, were met by President Jackson with all the energy 
that marked his character. In his memorable proclamation of 
December, 1832, he speaks to the citizens of the disaffected states 
with paternal kindness. He points to the constitution as the per- 
petual bond of our union, which we have received as the work of 
the assembled wisdom of the nation, in which we have trusted as 
the sheet anchor of our safety in the stormy times of conflict with 
a foreign or domestic foe, to which we have looked with a sacred 
awe, as the palladium of our liberties, and with all the solemnities 
of religion, have pledged to each other our lives and fortunes here, 
and our hopes of happiness hereafter, in its defence and support. 
He invokes the descendants of the Pinkneys, the Sumters, the 
Rutledges, and the thousand other names which adorn their revo- 
lutionary history, not to abandon that union, to support which so 
many of them fought, and bled, and died. He adjures them, as 
they honour their memory, as they love the cause of freedom, to 
which they dedicated their lives, as they prize the peace of our 
country, the lives of its best citizens, and their own fair fame, to 
retrace their steps. But having entreated, invoked, and adjured 



skunk's eulogy. 151 

with fatherly affection — having placed before them the motives for 
returning tothe path of duty, he assumes the dignity of the magis- 
trate, and denounces the penalty of continued resistance. He tells 
them they cannot destroy the constitution : they may disturb its 
peace, interrupt the course of its prosperity, and cloud its reputa- 
tion for stability, but its tranquillity will be restored, its prosperity 
will return, and the stain upon its national character will be trans- 
ferred, and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who 
caused the disorder. He then announces to his fellow-citizens of 
the United States, that a crisis had approached in our affairs, on 
which the continuance of our uninterrupted prosperity, our politi- 
cal existence, and perhaps that of all free governments, may de- 
pend. He relies with confidence on their individual support, in 
his determination to execute the laws — to preserve the Union by all 
constitutional means, to arrest, if possible, by moderate but firm 
measures, the necessity of a recourse to force : and if it be the will 
of Heaven, that the recurrence of its primeval curse on man, for 
the shedding of a brother's blood, should fall upon our land, that it 
be not called down by any offensive act on the part of the United 
States. 

With the deep solemnity of a good man, he concludes by saying, 
" May the great Ruler of nations grant that the signal blessings 
with which he has favoured ours, may not, by the madness of party, 
or personal ambition, be disregarded and lost, and may his wise 
Providence bring those who have produced this crisis to see their 
folly, before they feel the misery of civil strife, and inspire a re- 
turning veneration for that Union which, if we may dare to pene- 
trate His designs, He has chosen as the only means of attaining the 
high destinies to which we may reasonably aspire." 

To this decisive and magnanimous course of President Jackson, 
distinguished for honesty, plainness, simplicity, and firmness, the 
nation was mainly indebted for the return of South Carolina to the 
communion of her sisters, and for the preservation of the Union 
itself, which was strengthened by the wisdom and force which met 
the attempt to disrupt it. 

The continuance of the Bank of the United States presented a 
question during the presidency of Jackson, which divided the peo- 
ple of these states. The utility, advantage, and necessity of such 
an institution were strongly urged on one side, in favour of a re- 
charter, while the danger arising from a great concentration of 
money power, and its evil tendency in a republican government, 
formed the ground of objection to it. Andrew Jackson was among 
those who were opposed to the recharter of the bank, and while 
those in opposition to him on this question may deprecate the 
effects of his course, they must admit the energy and honesty of it. 
The varied power and influence of this institution secured the pas- 



152 MONUMENT TO JACKSON 

sage of a bill in both houses of Congress, extending its charter, in 
1832. It was presented to the president for his signature. He 
was a candidate for re-election the coming November, and might 
justly anticipate that all this array of power and influence would 
be marshalled against him, if he withheld his signature. But he 
remained firm and immoveable. His convictions of the dangerous 
tendencies of the bank were too clear. He saw the storm gather- 
ing around him, but he smiled at its approach. Sustained by con- 
scious rectitude, he maintained his position undismayed, and pre- 
sented an example of devotion to what he believed to be the best 
interests of the country and of exalted patriotism, like those of 
Grecian and Roman virtue, which has been consecrated for the 
benefit and instruction of mankind. His hostility to that institu- 
tion was determined and persevering — he believed he was right, 
and in the strength of that belief, he advanced in the course he had 
prescribed for himself with unfaltering and uncompromising deci- 
sion, until his object was accomplished. His own words are the 
best illustration of his conduct that can be given. He says : — 

" In vain do I bear upon my person enduring memorials of that 
contest in which American liberty was purchased — in vain have I 
since perilled property, fame, and life, in defence of the rights and 
privileges so dearly bought — in vain am I now without a personal 
aspiration, or the hope of individual advantage, encountering re- 
sponsibilities and dangers, from which, by mere inactivity in relation 
to a single point, I might have been exempt, if any serious doubts 
can be entertained as to the purity of my purposes and motives. 
If I had been ambitious, I should have sought an alliance with that 
powerful institution, which even now aspires to no divided empire. 
If I had been venal, I should have sold myself to its designs — had 
I preferred personal comfort and official ease, to the performance 
of my arduous duties, I should have ceased to molest it. In the 
history of conquerors and usurpers, never, in the fire of youth, nor 
in the vigour of manhood, could I find an attraction to lure me 
from the path of duty, and now I shall scarcely find an inducement 
to commence the career of ambition, when gray hairs and a decay- 
ing frame, instead of inviting to toil and battle, call me to the con- 
templation of other worlds, where conquerors cease to be honoured, 
and usurpers expiate their crimes. The only ambition I can feel, 
is to acquit myself to him, to whom I must soon render an account 
of my stewardship, to serve my fellow-men and live respected and 
honoured in the history of my country." If there is one virtue in 
the character of General Jackson, pre-eminent above the rest, it is 
the disinterestedness which he here claims, and which his country 
awards him. 

His whole career is strongly marked by heroism, disinterested- 
ness, and devotion to his country. The age of fourteen found him 



shunk's eulogy. 153 

in the ranks of war. The indomitable spirit which prompted the 
boy, the prisoner and the orphan to disobey a degrading order, be- 
tokened the future hero. A pioneer of the wilderness, and yet ac- 
quiring under the guidance of his strong understanding and refined 
feeling, the polished manner and dignified address which became 
the elevated stations he filled. A republican in principle and 
practice. Distinguished alike for honesty of purpose and decision 
of character. His was an elevated political morality, which could 
not stoop to flatter venal passion, but always appealed to the virtue 
of his countrymen. Gifted by nature with a mind keen in its per- 
ceptions and clear in its conclusions, his decisions were seldom 
wrong, and always honest. The warrior of many battles, yet pre- 
served to give the world the example of a tranquil death of a Chris- 
tian in the bosom of his family. 

The great benefactors of mankind are seldom appreciated, nor 
can they be fully appreciated by the generation to which they be- 
long. Time and the progress of events, which have received a 
direction from their master's hands, can only fully develope the 
value of their services. The achievements of General Jackson in 
the field and in the cabinet must not be estimated by their immedi- 
ate effects, but with reference to their influence upon the future 
destiny of the country. The American government and the Ame- 
rican people are invested with the glory of his triumphs — they 
hold and will hold the eminent rank his services have acquired for 
them, and feel the dignity and pride of country which they con- 
fer; other nations will be influenced and regulated in their conduct 
towards us by the force and permanency which his character and 
services have enstamped upon our institutions, while our own peo- 
ple, young and old, from generation to generation, will regard his 
liiography as among the most precious records of their history, 
and gather from his life the noblest examples for their imitation. 

On the 8th of June last, this life, crowded with acts which con- 
ferred renown upon his country, and preserved from a thousand 
dangers, drew tranquilly to its close. Warned of his approach, 
and armed with the faith and resignation of a Christian, death came 
to him as the welcome messenger to open for his entrance the por- 
tals of the city of the blest. The life spent in illustrating the 
annals of his country, treasuring up immortal fame for himself, 
glorified God in its close. When the inevitable hour came, stoop- 
ing from the very highest pinnacle of earthly fame, in meekness 
and humility to the very foot of the cross, the venerable old man, 
his brow bound with civic and military wreaths, bowed his head 
to the stroke with the dignity the Christian faith alone can inspire. 
Childless, the pains of his last illness were assuaged, and its tedious 
hours beguiled by affection more than filial, and bursts of grief from 



154 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



hearts in which not a drop of his blood was mingled, paid the holi- 
est tribute to his memory when he died. 

With paternal admonitions, tender adieus to those to whom not 
blood, but affection, made him father, in the confident hope of a 
blissful immortality, his spirit, released from its frail and decaying 
tenement, has gone to receive its reward. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT LANCASTER, PA., JUNE 26, 1845, 



BY THE 



HON. ELLIS LEWIS. 



Friends and Fellow-Citizens ! Andrew Jackson is no more ! 
His spirit has taken its flight to another, and, we trust, a better 
world ! We are assembled to mourn the loss of a national bene- 
factor, and to commemorate his virtues. It is the fortune of the 
American people to be frequently engaged in the discussion of 
public measures, and to be as often divided in opinion, in reference 
to the questions at issue. But it is one of the bright traits of their 
character, to evince a magnanimous desire to do justice to any of 
their distinguished citizens, when they are no longer amongst us to 
speak for themselves. The scenes of to-day stand forth as an ex- 
ample. The most distinguished opponents of measures sustained 
by the illustrious deceased, unite with his friends in the ceremonies 
designed to do justice to his abilities — to the purity of his motives 
— to his undaunted bravery and exalted patriotism. And for this 
purpose differences of opinion have been laid aside, and all have 
united in selecting, to address you, on this melancholy occasion, an 
early but an humble friend of the deceased — one who has generally 
approved of his public acts — who has participated in the hospitali- 
ties of his house and table — who has loved him for his private vir- 
tues — and who can personally bear testimony to the deep humility 
of his Christian devotions, in the period of his highest earthly ex- 
altation. Under such circumstances, your speaker would do in- 
justice to the occasion, and equal violence to his own feelings, if 
he intentionally expressed a sentiment or uttered a word which 
might interrupt the universal harmony, or give just cause of offence 
to any portion of his fellow-citizens. 

It has been said that " Republics are ungrateful ;" but the 
startling event which has called us together has added another 
proof to the many evidences already before us, that our happy 

(155) 



156 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

form of government is not justly liable to this reproach. The 
people of this extended republic have not been ungrateful to 
their patriots and statesmen. Washington, Adams, Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe and Harrison, received the greatest rewards 
in life, and the highest honours in death, which a grateful peo- 
ple could bestow. And the hero whose loss we now deplore 
has enjoyed the strongest proofs of the grateful attachment of his 
fi'llow-citizens. Although the events of his brilliant career as a 
general, and his faithful administration as a president, have pro- 
duced great diversity of opinion, and much energy in discussion, 
the moment his death is announced, the nation pauses to survey the 
extent of its obligations! And the next moment an outpouring of 
patriotic feeling bursts forth, like a volcano, from the whole land ; 
and, as it pours along, like a river of burning lava, it obliterates 
alike the underbrush of error and the weeds of uncbaritableness, 
leaving nothing for our contemplation but the bright and glowing 
stream of a republic's gratitude ! The voice of party, which was 
silenced in the day of battle by the roar of artillery — the clangor 
of arms and the gurgling of blood, is again stilled to give place, in 
the hour of death, to the tolling bell — the funeral gun, and the 
wailing voice of a sorrowing nation. 

In this happy exhibition of national character, we may see the 
proof that our country's freedom is destined to perpetuity. The 
scrutiny with which we examine the acts of our public men shows 
that we are ready to pay, for the blessings of liberty, that " eternal 
vigilance" which has been declared to be its "price." And the 
generosity with which we applaud pure motives and great actions, 
proves that differences of opinion amongst ourselves are never per- 
mitted to deprive the truly deserving of their just reward. 

The "philosophy which teaches by example" assures us that the 
rewards which are held in the highest regard by a nation, are the 
chief incitements to deeds of valour and patriotism. Where orders 
of knighthood and patents of nobility are dispensed, as the rewards 
for public services, other more noble objects of ambition are less 
appreciated and less necessary for the support of government. But, 
in governments resting upon the public will, established by a peo- 
ple who have no taste for royalty, or the stars and garters of no- 
bility, the highest reward which a patriot can receive or desire, is 
the approving confidence of his fellow-citizens. When this has 
been deserved, justice and policy require that it should be meted 
out with a liberal hand and an ungrudging heart. Justice to Andrew 
Jackson, and a proper regard for the interests of the country, unite 
in requiring that we should cherish his memory and honour his 
name. The rising generation who witness these ceremonies will 
thus be encouraged to emulate the hero and the patriot. And 
when the crisis shall come, and the country shall call for her sons, 



lewis's eulogy. 157 

they will flock around her standard, ready to do battle in her cause, 
on land and on sea — on the lakes or on the Rocky Mountains — on 
the coast of the Atlantic or on the shores of the Pacific ! 

While we mingle our sorrows together, it is therefore proper to 
unite in a just tribute to departed worth. And the occasion is ap- 
propriate for such reflections as may be useful to ourselves, and 
peneficial to our country and its institutions. 

History is the mirror of the past ; the guide of the present, and 
the beacon of the future. Let us look at the images which she 
presents for our contemplation. We may find valuable lessons for 
our present career, and salutary warnings for the time to come. 
But, while we proceed in the examination, let us bear in remem- 
brance that the power which has summoned the greatest amongst 
us to his final account, may, at any moment, send the like sum- 
mons to us ; that the sands which have numbered the days of the 
hero, are rapidly measuring out the fragment of time allotted to 
each that survives ; and that while we are offering funeral honours 
to the illustrious dead, our own hearts, 

''Like muffled drums, are beating 
Funeral marches to the grave." 

Andrew Jackson was born in what was called the Waxhaw Set- 
tlement, in South Carolina, on the 15th of March, 1767. His 
parents were emigrants from Ireland. Shortly after his birth his 
father died, leaving three children, to be provided for by their 
widowed mother. The eldest son lost his life at the battle of 
Stono, by the excessive heat of the weather and fatigues of the day. 
As soon as the Revolutionary war extended into South Carolina, 
the two other brothers, Andrew and Robert, hastened to the Ame- 
rican camp, and engaged in the service of the country. At this 
time, Andrew was a boy, at the tender age of fourteen, but he 
performed the services of a man. In the course of military opera- 
tions, the two brothers were taken prisoners by the British dra- 
goons under the command of Major Coffin. Andrew was ordered 
by a British officer to perform acts of menial servitude, which he 
declined, claiming the rights to which he was entitled as a prisoner 
of war, under the law of nations. The officer, incensed at his re- 
fusal, aimed a blow at his head with a drawn sword, which An- 
drew parried with his arm, and saved his life by receiving on his 
hand the wound intended for his head. His brother, at the same 
time, for a similar offence, received a deep cut on the head, of 
which he afterwards died. Upon the exchange of prisoners, the 
two brothers were set at liberty, but Robert died of his wound a 
few days after his liberation, and his mother, worn with grief and 
suffering, expired a few weeks after her son. Andrew Jackson, 
the only surviving child, confined to a bed of sickness, occasioned 
14 



158 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

by his sufferings while a prisoner of war, and attacked by the 
small-pox, was thus left at the door of death — in the wide world 
— in the unprotected tenderness of youth — alone — friendless — and 
without a human being whom he could claim as a near relation. 
But the same God which saved the Hebrew infant, in his bulrush 
ark, and made him a mighty ruler over the people, watched over 
the fortunes of the American orphan ! 

At the age of seventeen, he commenced the study of the law. 
At nineteen, he obtained a license to practise, and at twenty-one, 
he settled in Nashville, and commenced the practice of his profes- 
sion. His efforts were crowned with success. He received from 
the immortal Washington the appointment of attorney-general for 
the district. At this early period, he was remarkable for his effi- 
ciency in aiding to quell the Indian disturbances. At twenty- 
nine, he was elected a member of the convention to establish the 
constitution of Tennessee. The same year he was elected a mem- 
ber of Congress. And the next year, at the age of thirty, he was 
chosen a United States senator, which he soon after resigned, from 
an aversion to political life. At thirty-two, against his wishes, he 
was appointed a supreme judge of the state, which he also re- 
signed soon afterwards, and retired to his farm, about ten miles 
from Nashville, on the Cumberland river, where he remained en- 
gaged in the peaceful pursuits of agriculture, until summoned by 
the second war with Great Britain to take part in the defence of 
the country. He had been chosen a major-general in the militia 
of Tennessee, and at the age of forty-five, in 1812, he raised two 
thousand five hundred volunteers from among the brave sons of his 
neighbours and friends, and at their head, tendered his services to 
the general government to repel an expected invasion from the 
British. He descended the Ohio and Mississippi to Natchez, where 
he had been instructed to wait further orders. The danger of in- 
vasion being dispelled, he was directed, by the secretary at war, to 
disband his troops on the spot, and deliver up the public stores to 
General Wilkinson, whose recruiting officers were in attendance, 
ready to take advantage of the necessities of the brave volunteers 
— thus disbanded — nearly five hundred miles from their homes, 
and deprived by this order, if obeyed, of provisions or means to 
return. They were about to be left to the alternative of enlist- 
ment in the regular army or starvation. At this time, there were 
one hundred and fifty on the sick roll, fifty-six of whom were un- 
able to raise their heads ; and it is not certain that even the charity 
of enlistment was offered to these. Many of these volunteers were 
3'ouths in their teens, the rich jewels of their patriotic parents, 
who had followed the fortunes of their general because they con- 
fided in his humanity as well as his bravery, and because he had 
given the pledge that all who did not perish in honourable battle, 



lewis's eulogy. 159 

should be safely returned to their homes. Here was a trial for the 
citizen soldier ! To obey the order, was to forfeit his word — to 
abandon his men to the direst calamities, and, at the same time, to 
fix a stigma on his government which might for ever deprive it of 
the confidence and support of the yeomanry on which the country 
relied for defence. To disobey, was to expose himself to the cen- 
sure of his government — to the severe punishments of the military 
law — and to the loss of all that a soldier values as worthy of a 
soldier's ambition. But Andrew Jackson did not hesitate, in such 
a crisis. He was incapable of perpetrating a deed at which hu- 
manity would shudder, and from which Christianity would turn 
weeping away ! He disobeyed the order, and marched his men to 
their homes. To the honour of his country, his explanations were 
satisfactory to the government, and his proceedings were approved 
of by authority as well as sanctioned by humanity. 

We do not pause to inquire into the technical principle involved 
in this proceeding. All men, European and American — civilized 
and savage — already know that Andrew Jackson was one who re- 
garded substance and not form — whose intuitive perceptions of right 
have ever found a ready response in the hearts of his countrymen, 
and whose course, through an eventful and perilous life, has been to 
follow these perceptions, regardless of all consequences to himself, 
and ever ready to meet responsibility. But these trying events 
may be recalled, for the purpose of reminding us that the warrior 
who could mino-le in scenes of blood and carnage, dealing death and 
havoc among his country's foes, was keenly alive to the tenderest 
emotions of our nature, and never forgot the dictates of benevolence 
and humanity. 

General Jackson retired from the service, but his retirement was 
of short duration. The Indians renewed their barbarous depreda- 
tions. Under the bloody counsels of Tecumseh, who visited the 
different tribes, and by his eloquence inflamed them against the 
white population, the Creek confederacy commenced tbeir savage 
warfare! And who is ignorant of the Indian mode of war? 
Neither age nor sex is spared — the resisting and the unresisting — 
the old and the young — the mother and the child, are swept away 
in the torrent of blood and carnage that marks the path of the re- 
lentless savage. Prisoners who surrender under the most solemn 
pledges that their lives and property shall be protected — the wounded 
and the helpless — the sick and the dying — are robbed even of the 
clothing on their backs — deliberately shot — tomahawked in cold 
blood — scalped — denied the right of burial, or, if buried by their 
comrades before these enormities are perpetrated, they are raised 
from their graves, and robbed and stripped and scalped — and then 
left, their bodies to be devoured by wild animals — their bones to 



160 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

bleach upon the earth, wherever they might chance to be scattered 
by the beasts of prey that feed upon the dead and the dying ! 

The murder of three hundred men, women, and children, at 
Fort Mimms, was but a small rivulet in the sanguinary stream 
which deluged the frontier settlements. At the sound of the war- 
whoop, the helpless children were struck with dismay, and the 
women clasped their infants convulsively in their arms as they fled 
and shrieked in terror; while every father, and husband, and bro- 
ther, and son, seized his rille and rushed to the conflict in defence 
of all that was valued in life. Chief among these brave spirits, and 
leading them on to the battle, was Andrew Jackson ! He routed 
them with terrible slaughter at Talladega — he defeated them in like 
manner at Emuckfaw ! and he almost extinguished their whole race 
in their last bloody battle at the Horseshoe ! He was too sagacious 
to be betrayed into ambuscades by their wiles — too brave to be 
terrified by their war-whoops — and too powerful in arms to be 
overcome by their prowess ! 

In the prosecution of this war, he suffered the severest fatigues 
and privations; and encountered obstacles in the mutinies and 
threatened desertion of large bodies of his men, which are almost 
without a parallel. But, in all these scenes of trial, he evineed the 
traits of benevolence, which have shone through his whole life. 
His own horse was frequently surrendered to the fatigued soldier, 
while the humane general walked by his side; and, in times of 
terrible privation and destitution of food, the wants of his nun were 
relieved before his own. If he had nothing else, he divided the 
handful of acorns he had gathered, and when so fortunate as to pro- 
cure a scanty supply of beef, his own share was given up to his 
men, while he supplied himself with the offals which had been left 
where the animals provided for his troops had been slaughtered ! 

He retired from the service on the 21st of April, 1814. But bis 
achievements as an officer in the militia, induced the government 
to tender him the appointment of major-general in the army. And 
the man who had repeatedly retired from the honours and emolu- 
ments of civil life, stood ready, at the call of his country, to give 
up the comforts of his retirement, and to repair to the post of dan- 
ger. But, we must pass over many of the scenes and trials and 
triumphs of his life, and leave to history the task of doing ample 
justice to his deeds and motives. 

We were engaged in a war with the most powerful nation in the 
world. Her military strength is so wide-spread, that the sound of 
her drum is heard around the world; her dominions are so extensive 
that the sun never sets upon them ; and she boasts of her maritime 
power, that 

* Her march is o'er the mountain wave, 
Her home is on the deep!" 



lewis's eulogy. 161 

The general peace which had been concluded among the powers 
of Europe in April, 1814, and which had resulted in consigning 
Napoleon to Elba, enabled this mighty nation to concentrate her 
whole military and naval power upon our shores. In addition to 
the warlike movements on our northern and western frontiers, the 
whole line of our sea-board was invaded at various points, from the 
Passamaquoddy to the Mississippi. Baltimore was attacked — Havre 
de Grace was burnt — Alexandria was pillaged, and our National 
Capitol itself was destroyed ! The Senate Chamber and the Hall 
of Representatives — the President's House and the buildings for 
the heads of departments — the library of the nation and the records 
of the government — the works of science and the labours of art — 
were all involved in one general conflagration by the torch of the 
invading foe ! And, the disciplined Vandals of Europe, who had 
perpetrated these outrages, were advancing upon New Orleans, with 
a watch-word that proclaimed to a brutal soldiery, that the wealth 
of the city and the wives and daughters of its inhabitants, should be 
given up to the ravaging cupidity and despoiling lust of the victors ! 

But Andrew Jackson, with a far-reaching foresight, anticipated 
the attack, and arrived at New Orleans on the 1st December, 1814, 
for the purpose of defending the city. He immediately commenced 
the most active preparations against traitors within and enemies 
without. A rigid system of police was established — every avenue 
of approach was guarded and fortified ; and, among the measures 
resorted to, for the defence of the city, was the declaration of mar- 
tial law ; and, as a consequence, the temporary suspension of such 
civil powers, as, in their operation, interfered with those which the 
commanding general was necessarily obliged to exercise in the de- 
fence of the country. At such a crisis, he thought that " constitu- 
tional forms should be suspended for the permanent preservation of 
constitutional rights — that it was better to depart, for a moment, 
from the enjoyment of our dearest privileges, than to have them 
wrested from us for ever." In thus placing the defence of this 
measure upon the highest law of nature and of nations — that of 
over-ruling necessity in self-preservation, he stood upon impregna- 
ble ground, so far as principle was involved, whatever differences 
of opinion may exist with regard to the application of the principle, 
or the existence of the dire necessity of resorting to a measure so 
extraordinary. Upon a full examination of the subject, in all its 
bearings, the Secretary at War, himself one of the most distinguished 
jurists of the age, by order of the president, declared, in the name 
of the nation, that this ground was "just as it respected the respon- 
sibility of the commanding general, and safe as it respected the 
liberties of the nation." And the nation itself, after a deliberation 
of thirty years — in its assembled wisdom — in the high exercise of 
its acknowledged power, cheered the heart of the patriot in Hie 
14* 



162 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

evening of his days, by a reversal of the only judgment that ever 
was pronounced to the contrary, and by an award of restitution of 
the fine of one thousand dollars, which a judge had imposed, as a 
punishment for the interruption of his civil functions. The ladies 
of New Orleans raised the money to discharge the fine, but the 
general declined receiving it, and requested that it might be dis- 
tributed among the widows and orphans of those who had fallen in 
the battle ! It was woman's gratitude that raised the fund ! — God 
bless the sex! — Ever foremost in the work of charity — always min- 
istering to the sick — lingering longest at the cross — speeding 
earliest to the sepulchre ! They never erred but once ; and if that 
error had been committed at a later period of the world, after four 
thousand years of bright and lovely deeds, the accusing spirit had 
carried the offence to Heaven's Chancery in vain ! 

He paid the fine out of his own funds, although greatly embar- 
rassed at the time. The very dwelling-house in which he had long 
resided, and a large portion of his farm, had been disposed of to re- 
lieve his embarrassments, and his family resided in the humblest 
log-cabin, on a retired portion of the estate, which remained. 
Here we see the devotion to principle which has influenced his 
whole life! If he had offended against the constitution of his 
country, it was just that he, and not others, should suffer the punish- 
ment. And when a judgment had been pronounced against him by 
a competent tribunal, it was the part of a good citizen to submit 
until it should be reversed, although he questioned its justice. The 
same devotion which had induced him to still the voice of the 
multitude, and to prevent an open resistance to the judge's authority 
while he was imposing the fine, guided his decision that its pay- 
ment should not be evaded by the generous subscriptions of others. 

But let us return from the defence of the general to the defence 
of New Orleans. Alarm pervaded the city. The marching and 
counter-marching of the troops — the proximity of the enemy — 
the known power of his arms, and the uncertainty of the issue, had 
excited a general fear. As the general and his troops were march- 
ing through the city, his ears were assailed with the screams and 
cries of innumerable females, who had collected on the way, and 
seemed to fear the worst consequences. Feeling their distresses, 
and anxious to quiet them, he directed Mr. Livingston to address 
them in French — the language which thev understood, and to say 
to them," Be not alarmed— the enemy shall never reach the city ! M 
The effect was electrical! The words were the words of prophecy ! 

Let us pause for a moment to admire this beautiful display of 
human kindness, combined with human greatness. Amid the cares 
and anxieties, and the hopes and fears of his responsible station, and 
while occupied and surrounded by the dreadful note of preparation, 
the mighty conqueror reins in his \\ ar-horse, and pauses in his career 



lewis's eulogy. 163 

of arms and death, to send a cheering message to the weak and the 
timid, the loved and the lovely ones of the city ! 

But the enemy at last landed ;. and the moment the intelligence 
reached General Jackson, instead of waiting his arrival at New 
Orleans, the general advanced to assail him, in his "first position" 
on the American soil. The British had reached the Mississippi, and 
had encamped upon its banks, seven miles below New Orleans, as 
composedly as if they had been seated on their own soil at a distance 
from all danger. They felt certain of success, and that the Ameri- 
can troops so easily routed at Bladensburg, would scarcely venture 
to resist at New Orleans. Resting thus confidently, they would 
have moved forward the next day, and might have accomplished 
their designs. But General Jackson, with a force, inferior by one- 
half to that of the enemy, at an unexpected moment, broke into 
their camp, and, with his undisciplined yeomanry, drove before him 
for nearly a mile the proud conquerors of Europe ! This was on 
the 23d of December, 1814: and, although it was not the death- 
blow, it was the master-stroke of bravery and sagacity which saved 
the city from pillage. It induced the enemy to believe that the 
American force was greater than his spies had reported it, caused 
him to suspend his meditated attack, until he received reinforce- 
ments ; and thus gave the American general time to complete his 
fortifications and gather additional forces for defence. 

The memorable 8th of January arrived ! Twelve thousand vete- 
rans of the British army, under the command of Sir Edward Pack- 
enham, advanced to assault the American breastworks ! The can- 
non thundered from every battery — the Tennessee rifles were 
levelled with deadly aim — grape-shot and shells were scattered as 
thick as hailstones over the plain. Three times the enemy ad- 
vanced, and each time he was driven back, with the slaughter of 
his bravest men, and, at last, he retreated in confusion. His com- 
mander was slain, many of his principal officers were wounded, 
and the field was covered with nearly two thousand of his dead and 
wounded ! The crowning glory of this brilliant victory is, that it 
was accomplished, through the military skill of General Jackson, 
with the loss of only thirteen killed and thirty-nine wounded, on 
the part of the Americans! The second war with Great Britain 
was thus terminated in a blaze of glory. Honoured be the memory 
of the chief whose wisdom and courage so brilliantly illuminated 
its closing scene ! 

In the latter part of the year 1817, the hostilities of the Semi- 
noles and other Florida Indians called for the services of General 
Jackson. In this war, his measures were as active and skilful, and 
his conduct as brave, as in the wars which had preceded. Its 
events have been the subject of lengthened discussion, and his 
country's judgment has been pronounced upon them. The repre- 



164- MONUMENT TO .TACKSON. 

sentatives of the people justified his course to the nation ; and the 
eloquent argument of the American Secretary of State vindicated 
it before the governments of England and Spain. 

In 182-i, his name was brought before the people as a candidate 
for the highest olfice in their gift, and the most honourable station 
on earth. He received in the electoral colleges a greater number 
of votes than were given to an}' other candidate. But there being 
more than two candidates, and no one having received a majority 
of the whole number, the election devolved upon the House of 
Representatives, and one of his competitors was chosen. But the 
people were dissatisfied with this seeming disregard of their will, 
and they elected their favourite in 1828, by a vote of more than 
two to one! In 1832, he was re-elected, against his own wishes, 
by an increased majority. In 1837, he retired from public life to 
the domestic endearments of the Hermitage, where he continued, 
loved and respected, during the remainder of his life. 

The measures of his administration were important, and have 
been much discussed. They are fresh in the recollection of all, 
and it will not be necessary or appropriate to examine their merits. 
A few remarks may, however, be indulged, without danger of 
offence. Under his administration, the nations of the earth were 
taught to respect the stars and the stripes of the American flag! 
and indemnity was obtained for spoliations which had been commit- 
ted by the illegal seizure of our vessels at sea, when the country 
was young and weak ; and when she could not boast a leader whose 
name was a proclamation to the world, that he stood ready to sus- 
tain with his arms the just determination which had guided his ne- 
gotiations, "To ask nothing that was not, clearly right — to submit 
to nothing that was wrong." 

The laws establishing a tariff for the collection of a revenue, and 
at the same time designed to protect our domestic manufactures, 
met with much opposition in the southern states. And South Caro- 
lina passed an ordinance declaring them null and void, and openly 
declared her determination to resist them with the whole force at 
her command. The nation was threatened with a civil war, and 
in that event it was uncertain how many of the states opposed to 
the tariff would act in concert with South Carolina. The experi- 
ment of self-government seemed about to be tested. In this alarming: 
crisis, the president issued his celebrated proclamation, which, for con- 
stitutional argument, stands unequalled by any which ever appeared 
upon the subject, except that of Daniel Webster, in the United 
States Senate. In this imperishable document, the president rea- 
soned as a jurist, admonished as a father, and decided with the de- 
termination of a warrior whose battles were always victorious, that 
" the Union must, and should be preserved." 

An immense money corporation had been created by Congress, 



lewis's eulogy. 165 

with its branches extending into every part of the Union. He 
believed it was mismanaging the funds of the nation — interfering 
with the freedom of elections — controlling the operations of go- 
vernment — and dangerous to the liberties of the people. Good 
men and wise men have differed on the question how far this 
opinion was correct. But all sound judging men will admit that, 
so long as the president entertained that opinion, the duty of his 
station required that he should use all the efforts in his power to 
save the funds and liberties of the people from the threatened dan- 
ger. Accordingly, he decided that its connexion with the govern- 
ment should be dissolved, and that, so far as depended upon him, 
its charter should not be renewed. The political warfare which 
followed, was as fearful as any he had ever encountered in arms. 
In the bitterness of the contest, the Senate of the United States 
pronounced its judgment against him for his measures, in removing 
the funds of the nation from the vaults of this corporation. But 
in this, as in every other contest for his country, he proved victo- 
rious. Under the influence of other counsels, and in accordance 
with the wishes of the people, expressed through their state legis- 
latures, the illustrious body which had improvidently prejudged his 
case, without hearing him, and before he was presented for trial by 
the representatives of the people, receded from its sentence by a 
proceeding as decisive as it was remarkable. Whatever difference 
of opinion may exist in regard to these proceedings, all will per- 
ceive, in the course of Andrew Jackson, the self-sacrificing spirit 
— the fearless disregard of danger — and the indomitable energy 
which always mark the character of a great mind. 

The war with Great Britain and the Indian tribes had involved 
the nation in many millions of debt, a large amount of which re- 
mained undischarged when General Jackson became president. 
But during his administration he had the satisfaction of causing it 
to be paid to the uttermost farthing. And when he carried to the 
Hermitage the abiding affections of the people, he left behind the 
bright spectacle of a great republican government, after an experi- 
ment of sixty years, free from a national debt ! 

This great patriot was a blessing to his country, in his youth — in 
his manhood — in his old age — and even in his death ! His early 
participation in the revolutionary struggle for independence at- 
tached him to the principles of liberty — and the loneliness of his 
orphan desolation, which stripped him of every other object of 
love, concentrated his undivided affections upon his country ; the 
hardships of his youth enabled him to sustain the storms which 
assailed his manhood. The storms of his manhood drew the atten- 
tion of his countrymen to the nature of their free institutions, and 
made them familiar with the principles by which they were to be 
perpetuated. When we see the humble orphan boy become a 



166 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

mighty ruler, we feel increased attachment to our form of govern- 
ment, which secures alike to high and low its blessings and its ho- 
nours. In his old age, he taught the lesson that the man who had 
occupied the most exalted station in the whole world, was not too 
proud to become a follower of the " meek and lowly Jesus" — that the 
spirit which had never quailed to man could bow in meek submis- 
sion to the will of God ; and that while royalty was seeking his 
likeness to ornament its halls, and antiquity was surrendering its 
monuments to adorn his sepulchre, he preferred a simple burial by 
the side of his deceased companion, to the vain ambition of repos- 
ing in a sarcophagus, which had preserved the remains of a monarch of 
the Old World more than a thousand years. He was laid by the 
side of his wife ! Their hearts were united on earth — their spirits 
shall mingle in heaven ; and the flowers that bloom over their rest- 
ing-place shall " blend their sweet perfume together." 

Even in his death there is a blessing. He has taught the Chris- 
tian how to die ! In the beautiful language of our own chief ma- 
gistrate, "he descended into the region of death, as a summer sun 
beneath the western horizon, silently, calmly, brightly, gloriously." 

The sun has indeed descended, but the sky is still bright ! and 
like its rich reflections, the memory of his noble deeds shall long 
shed a halo around his illustrious name. 

His death has opened the way to a just decision upon his life. 
The scythe of time is removing obstructions, and his hour-glass is 
rapidly measuring out the period when history shall do justice to 
the life and character of Andrew Jackson. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT BOSTON, MASS, JULY 9, 1845, 



BY THE 



HON. PLINY MERRICK. 



We assemble, my fellow-citizens, to mark with impressive and 
solemn service the loss of the republic in the death of " its most 
illustrious citizen." The magistrate who served, the hero who de- 
fended, and the patriot who loved and honoured his country — an 
old man full of years and of honours, and ripe for the celestial 
harvest, is gathered to his fathers, and sleeps in the peaceful silence 
of the grave. The event of which advancing age, and tidings of 
lingering sickness and increasing infirmity had given warning, and 
which has long been anticipated as the close of an eventful, ener- 
getic, and glorious life, now assembles vast multitudes of the peo- 
ple in all parts of the country to unite in the testimonials of a com- 
mon and universal bereavement. He who was the object of their 
pride and devoted affection — whom they had twice advanced to 
their most elevated office to be the administrator of their laws, and 
the defender of their liberty — whom they were accustomed to 
greet with the ardour of friendship, and to cheer with the accla- 
mations of confiding freemen, has fulfilled his mission of earthly 
duty, and rests from the cares, the temptations, and triumphs of time. 

Yet this impressive change creates an occasion less fitted to 
excite emotions of sadness and grief, than to revive, in sober medi- 
tation, grateful remembrances of a life illustrated by inspiring ex- 
amples of energy of action, purity of purpose, and distinguished 
achievements, identified for years with our national history. To 
such contemplations the hour of funeral solemnity may well be 
devoted. There is no higher tribute to the memory of a truly 
great man than a faithful record of the history of his life, and a 
presentment of a just delineation of his established character. 
Affection has no dearer theme, and wisdom no nobler counsels than 
the living actions of departed worth. 



168 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Andrew Jackson, late president of the United States, owes no- 
thing of his success or celebrity to distinguished birth or adventi- 
tious circumstances. Originally endowed with a capacity suscep- 
tible of the most expansive developement, he fashioned for himself 
and controlled the destiny of his life. He was born in the state 
of South Carolina, on the 15th of March, 1767, of parents in re- 
spectable but humble condition of life, who two years before had 
emigrated from Ireland to the United States. Soon after his birth 
the death of his father left him in charge of a mother who brought 
from her native land sentiments of hatred to arbitrary oppression, 
and reverence for the rights of the great masses of mankind, which 
she instilled with the gentle but prevailing influence of her sex, 
into the expanding mind of her child. These maternal instruc- 
tions were confirmed and strengthened by the prevalent opinion of 
the times, and during the progress of the war of independence. 

They sunk deep into the mind of the orphan boy; gave direc- 
tion to the current of his thoughts, and the aspiration of his ambi- 
tion ; and when, at the age of fourteen, the troops of the royal 
army under Lord Rawdon, ravaging the fields of Carolina, left to 
the inhabitants the alternative only of submission or resistance, he 
flew with youthful enthusiasm to the standard of liberty, and de- 
voted himself, heart and life, to its defence in the military service 
of his country. Then, and then only, in the whole course of his 
career as a soldier' — where lie served and others commanded — he 
suffered the disadvantages and mortification of defeat. But mis- 
fortune could check only his career, not conquer the spirit that 
swelled in his bosom. As fearless in the camp of the enemy as 
under the folds of his country's banner, no terror could alarm, no 
force compel him to dishonourable service. He spurned alike the 
base dictation and the uplifted sword of the English officer by 
whom it was commanded, and bore to his grave the mark of the 
deep wound an unarmed boy received in this his first resistance to 
the attempted oppression and degradation of arbitrary power. 

After his restoration from captivity, by an exchange of prisoners, 
he commenced his professional studies in the state of North Caro- 
lina, and was admitted to the bar as a counsellor at law in 1786, 
and immediately afterwards established himself at Nashville, then 
constituting a part of the back settlements in that state. He brought 
with him to this new scene of duties qualifications which insured 
ultimate success — a clear, sagacious mind, entire devotedness to 
professional obligation, a sincere and almost passionate love of jus- 
tice, accompanied by a personal firmness which nothing could 
divert from its pursuit. He entered with avidity and earnestness 
into his professional employments, and soon won the confidence 
and commanded the respect of the community. 

Without the advantages of a liberal education, and with but 



Merrick's cii.ogy. 169 

slight opportunities for acquisition at an academical institution, 
which was broken up and arrested in its course of instruction, and 
its master and pupils dispersed by the disturbances of the war, we 
may venture to presume that he who at so early an age commenced 
his professional practice, and pursued it immediately afterward 
with eminent ability and success, must not only have been en- 
dowed with strong and vigorous natural faculties, but must have 
toiled with diligent industry, and appropriated the circumscribed 
and limited means at his command with singular felicity. And it 
may excite a generous emulation to know that against all the dis- 
advantages of the privation of books and learned instructors, it 
was in the secluded portion of his life that he obtained much of 
that exact and complete knowledge of the theory and principles of 
both national and municipal law, which at a later period, in the 
numerous exigencies — often perplexing, and sometimes momentous 
— which demanded their application, were so familiar to his 
thoughts as to enable him to come to the most prompt as well as 
most accurate determination. 

So rapid was his progress, and eminent the professional power 
and capacity he immediately evinced, that two years after his set- 
tlement at Nashville, when Tennessee, by the cession of North 
Carolina, was erected into a territory, his reputation attracted the 
attention of President Washington, by whom he was appointed at- 
torney for the United States for that district. And with this ap- 
pointment commenced that extraordinary series of public services 
which Andrew Jackson so long, so faithfully, and with such bril- 
liant results, devoted to his country. What singular coincidences 
ensued! and how felicitous and befitting that his merits should 
have been thus early discerned, and his public career instituted by 
him, the first chief magistrate under the constitution, whose prin- 
ciples he was destined afterwards to uphold, whose warnings to re- 
iterate, and whose civil and military fame so much to resemble, 
and so closely to approach ! 

In 1796, the territory of Tennessee was erected into a state, and 
the people seized the earliest opportunity afforded them at a popular 
election, to manifest their confidence in Andrew Jackson, and to 
secure to themselves the benefit of his judgment and counsel. He 
was chosen a member of the convention, assembled to frame the 
republican constitution of the state, assumed the duties of the office, 
and entered upon its discharge with conscientious respect for ils 
responsibilities, and a deep anxiety firmly to establish those funda- 
mental principles which are embraced in the comprehensive ex- 
pression of the "rights of man." The constitution which was 
established, asserts among its provisions two great and leading propo- 
sitions, which he always defended as maxims, and followed as the 
guides of his political life — the inherent, indefeasible, and uncon- 
15 



170 MONtTMENT TO JACKSON. 

controllable sovereignty of the people, and the injustice and enor- 
mity of perpetuities and monopolies — those insidious and cruel in- 
strumentalities by which the prosperity of the many has been sub- 
jugated to the unjust advancement of the few — the bane of peace, 
and of all private, and therefore of all national prosperity. 

The constitution was established, and Tennessee was admitted a 
member of the Union : and Andrew Jackson was elected her first 
representative in the popular branch of the national legislature. A 
single year only elapsed, when, by a new election, he was trans- 
ferred to the Senate. He retained his position as a member of this 
body till 1799, when, intending to retire wholly to private life, he 
sent in his resignation and withdrew from the Senate. But scarcely 
had he left his political situation when, not only without solicitation, 
but without any knowledge on his part that such a purpose existed, he 
was appointed to the highest judicial situation in Tennessee — a 
judge of the Supreme Court of the state. They who had witnessed 
his earnestness and ability at the bar, his gravity and wisdom in the 
senate, his fidelity and conscientiousness in every undertaking, knew 
the power and resources he would carry to the bench, and how truly 
the scales of justice would be balanced by his independent judg- 
ment and luminous understanding. He accepted this high judicial 
office with much personal reluctance, and after a brief period, 
anxious to relieve himself from the responsibilities of all public 
employments, he tendered his resignation and withdrew to the 
occupation of his private pursuits. 

When, shortly after his retirement from the bench, he was, most 
unexpectedly to himself, elected to the office of major-general of a 
division of the militia of Tennessee, he regarded the acceptance of 
his military commission as scarcely a deviation from his determina- 
tion to remain in the seclusion of his private employments. Yet 
it constituted in fact one of the most important points in his pro- 
gress towards the consummation of those great ends of usefulness 
and honour — of civil and military renown, to which he was destined 
ultimately to attain. But though the magnitude of the consequences 
which were involved in his acceptance of military office was 
neither foreseen nor appreciated, he would permit himself to bold 
none, the duties of which he did not fully and faithfully qualify 
himself to discharge ; and though for years little more was neces- 
sarily required of" him than the maintenance of the formalities of 
a military organization and a general superintendence of his division, 
he lost no opportunity of possessing himself of all knowledge ap- 
propriate to his situation : and, therefore, when the hour of trial, 
of action, and laborious and perilous duty arrived, he was all fitted 
- d prepared — armed and panoplied lor the service — filled with 
knowledge, imbued with power — strengthened by a heart which 
had no beatings in his bosom but for honour and his country. 



Merrick's eulogy. 171 

After the declaration of war against Great Britain in 1812, Gene- 
ral Jackson entered the service of the government as a major-gene- 
ral of his division in the Tennessee militia, and continued to act 
under that authority until 1814, when he was appointed io the 
same rank in the army of the United States. 

Constantly in service during the whole period of the war, his 
military genius was developed in a long series of engagements, in 
which success everywhere attended his banner. New lights broke 
in irom the fires of his camp through clouds of disappointment and 
disaster, and the hopes of the country were revived under the 
military success of a general whose training had been at the bar, in 
the Senate, and on the judicial bench. Appeals from the suffer- 
ing inhabitants of the frontier, upon whom was waging the merci- 
less hostility of savage warfare, first called forth the demonstrations 
of his military enterprise and capacity ; and he immediately dis- 
played all the qualities of a consummate commander. Encounter- 
ing difficulties of every possible description — fatigue, suffering, 
famine, mutiny — he never quailed before their separate or united 
power; but, inexhaustible in resource, indomitable in perseverance, 
resolved at all hazards to wrench the tomahawk from the hands of 
the barbarian, his guiding genius and command were everywhere 
successful. His eagle eye detected the plans, followed the trails, 
and discovered the ambuscades of his subtle foe. Revolt trembled 
back into the obedient ranks of his army before the rebuke of his 
haughty indignation, and his march in the forest was a perpetual 
triumph, until the multiplying hordes of savage warriors were sub- 
dued and vanquished, until their fires were all out, and savage fero- 
city bent in supplication for the mercies of peace. 

But the skill, the intrepidity, the genius, and the commanding 
faculties of General Jackson, remained yet to be tested on a broader 
field and in a more noble and exalted conflict. The wars of Europe 
were just ended in the subjugation of the colossal soldier of France ; 
and England, relieved from the enormous burdens she had borne in 
the long agony of her struggle with Napoleon, was suddenly enabled 
to concentrate a vast combination of her military and naval forces 
in the Gulf of Mexico, in the prosecution of her contest with the 
United States. Transported, as she could scarcely fail to be, with 
her mighty triumphs on the continent, she withdrew her gallant 
legions from the Peninsula, and sent them across the Atlantic, as she 
confidently anticipated, to an assured and easy victory over the great 
commercial metropolis of the South. New Orleans was already, 
not merely in her hostility, but in her deliberate belief, a doomed 
city. The characteristic confidence of her people was never 
startled by the anticipation of any possible occurrence which would 
overwhelm her forces in utter discomfiture and defeat. But the 
hour was already near. General Jackson was ordered by the go- 



172 MONUMENT TO JACK;ON. 

vernment to the defence of New Orleans. Hastily summoning 
such portions of the militia as he could call into the service, and 
rallying to his aid his old companions, the gallant volunteers of 
Tennessee and Kentucky, he descended the Mississippi. On his 
arrival at the city, he found everything in a state of destitution, 
confusion, and despair. The whole force which he was able to 
command was most inadequate in numbers, in discipline, in organi- 
zation, to meet the veteran host they were summoned to oppose. 
Such was the condition of the surrounding country that the inva- 
ders had only to choose what position they would occupy in the 
commencement of their operations, and they might immediately 
make it their own. There was literally nothing to prevent or in- 
terrupt the disembarkation of the army from the fleet of the 
enemy. Not a rampart protected the city from its approach with- 
out, while within, intestine division between the different races of 
its inhabitants, combining with the timidity of some and the 
treachery of others, had nearly destroyed all concord, paralyzed all 
strength, and rendered all hope of a successful defence a vain and 
idle delusion. 

The penetrating glance of the commander surve} r ed every peril 
which surrounded his position, and, comprehending at once its 
extent and his responsibility, he vigorously commenced his opera- 
tions. If an ordinary mind would have been overwhelmed by the 
overawing and complicated embarrassments with which he was 
surrounded, it but redoubled the energies and reinspired the genius 
of the invincible commander, who was determined to save the city 
from conquest or sink with his country's banner on the plains 
before it. Sacrificing without hesitation every minor consideration, 
and tremblingly alive to whatever might be demanded from his 
efforts, he bent all the faculties of his gigantic spirit, and strained 
to its utmost tension every nerve in his physical system, to the 
accomplishment of his lofty duty. Trusting nothing that could be 
controlled to the hazard of chance, he made all his dispositions 
with the utmost precision and exactness. He renovated everything 
around him. The treachery of the base was confounded ; the ar- 
dent and patriotic were reinvigorated with nt w and nobler zeal. 
Never were more sagacious preparations made, never more wearing 
hardship endured by a military commander. Perceiving the neces- 
sity of carrying consternation into the ranks of the enemy, and of 
inspiring Confidence in those of his friends, he made immediate 
arrangements for an attack upon a large body of the English army, 
now occupying a position on the banks of the Mississippi ; and the 
blazing fires of the night-battle of the 23d of December, waking 
the invaders from their false security, and rousing his countrymen 
to an invisible ecstasy, made it but a prelude, sure and crrtain, to 
the glorious and indescribable victory of the 8th of January. I am 



merrick's eulogy. 173 

unaccustomed to the language of strategy, and unacquainted with 
the terms of its science ; but I know that on that memorable day 
an illustrious benefactor wrought out the great work which stands 
forth, the proudest triumph that adorns the annals of his country. 
And an army overwhelmed, outmatching his own in numbers, in 
discipline, equipment, experience — in all but in valour and patriot- 
ism ; the salvation of a city from the carnage, debauchery, and 
plunder of a successful enemy, accomplished, it may almost be said, 
without a blood-stain on the garments of his own troops, establish 
the military renown of the hero of New Orleans on an imperisha- 
ble foundation ; and the bare remembrance of the joyful acclama- 
tions with which he was universally welcomed back from his field 
of fame, suppresses the voice of all commendation, and renders all 
the phrases of eulogy tame and superfluous. 

Yet once again the military prowess of their honoured chieftain 
is demanded in the service of his country. Its peace is once more 
disturbed by the piercing war-cry from the wilder .less, and murder- 
ous bands of the Seminole Indians, incited by the bad men of ana 
country, and supported by the perfidy and armed fortunes of an- 
other, raise the tomahawk against the peaceful settlers of the fron- 
tier, the industrious inhabitants of the hamlet and the farm-house. 
Jackson marches to their relief, and with a vigour and in a spirit 
all his own, begins, pursues, and terminates the war with triumph- 
ant celerity, success, and completeness. Every part of its conduct 
was accomplished with a military intrepidity and moral fearlessness 
worthy of the conqueror of the Creeks and the victor of New Or- 
leans, which secured the cordial approbation of the government, 
and found its encomium at once and defence in that masterly de- 
spatch of another most distinguished citizen to the minister of 
Spain, which has scarcely a rival in eloquence or moral sublimity 
in all our national diplomacy. 

The military career of Andrew Jackson is now brought to its 
close. Peace was restored to his country throughout all its extent, 
and upon all ite borders; and the victorious soldier sheathes the 
sword which he has borne from victory to victory. In 1818, he 
resigned his commission in the army, and rejoiced once more to 
retire to the tranquillity of his farm at Nashville. But he could 
not hope for its protracted enjoyment, since such transcendent suc- 
cess could not long be unattended by imperative calls from his 
fellow-citizens for renewed public service. Upon the incorpora- 
tion of Florida with the United States, after the treaty of its ces- 
sion with Spain, and its establishment as a national "territory, he 
was appointed its governor by President Monroe, and proceeded to 
the discharge of his important and delicate duties in taking posse-s- 
sion of the territory, receiving and protecting the archives from 
tli • officers of Spain, and organizing and establishing the territorial 
15* 



174 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

government under the laws of Congress. Having accomplished the 
objects which he had in view in accepting the appointment, he 
early tendered his resignation and retired from the territory. 

In 1824, he was again elected a senator in Congress from Ten- 
nessee, and once more took his seat in the highest branch of the 
legislative department of the government : but having been for- 
mally nominated by the legislature of that state as a candidate for 
the office of president of the United States, and having consented 
to the nomination, he deemed it incompatible with the new relation 
he occupied towards the people, to continue a member of the na- 
tional legislature, and he tendered his resignation and withdrew 
from office. 

Towards the close of the administration of President Monroe, the 
asperity of political feeling had become much smoothed and sub- 
dued ; and in the progress of time and change of circumstances, 
the lines of party division were obscured or neglected in a tolerant 
and general amalgamation. In such a state of things, it is not sur- 
prising that different interests, sectional partiality, and personal 
preference should have prevented that concert and union of action 
in the election of his successor which may be commanded and 
relied on in a period of more fixed and determinate division of po- 
litical parties. The result corresponded with what might have 
been anticipated. Such was the division of the votes of the elec- 
toral colleges, that no choice was effected by the people, and the 
election having devolved upon the House of Representatives, voting 
by states, resulted in the elevation of a distinguished citizen of 
Massachusetts to the chief magistracy of the Union. 

During the four years of the administration which ensued, mea- 
sures of great public interest, involving political and constitutional 
principles of momentous consideration and importance, attracted 
the attention of the people ; and the intensply contested canvass 
of 1828, terminated in the election of Andrew Jackson to the pre- 
sidency. On the 4th of March, 1829, he entered upon the dis- 
charge of its duties: and having faithfull}' sustained himself in the 
execution of the high trust committed to his hands, and secured 
the warm and hearty approbation of a majority of the people, in 
1832 he was re-elected for a second term, and closed his public 
life at its termination, on the 3d of March, 1837. 

The administration of President Jackson is one of the most 
marked and prominent periods in the political history of our coun- 
try. Profoundly impressed with a sense of the weight and magni- 
tude of the office, he assumed its responsibilities by a zealous dedi- 
cation of his ability to its requirements ; and he commenced the 
performance of its trusts and obligations with characteristic fear- 
lessness and energy. While he felt that "the demonstration of 
public sent i mail had inscribed great tasks on the list of official duty 



merrick's eulogy. 175 

in characters too legible to be overlooked," and was resolved to pay 
all possible respect to the manifestations of the popular will, he 
distinctly perceived the exact position he was to occupy among the 
functionaries of the government ; and declared that, " in adminis- 
tering the laws of Congress, he should keep steadily in view the 
limitations as well as the extent of executive power." Guarding 
that indispensable department from all encroachment upon its effi- 
cacy and independence, he clearly recognised the fact that it was 
created, preserved, and restrained only by the positive grants and 
interdictions of constitutional provisions ; and that, with all his 
loftiness of elevation and magnitude of trust, the first officer of the 
republic was yet but the representative and servant of the people, 
accountable to them that the powers of this office were neither 
marred by the degradation of innovation upon its authority, nor 
dishonoured by the enlargements of unlawful assumption. 

It is not to be disguised that his administration was illustrated by 
a severe and intense opposition. It is in the very nature of free 
institutions that the operations of government should be watched 
with the eye of a keen and jealous vigilance ; and much may be 
pardoned to the spirit of liberty if that watchfulness, in its gene- 
rous ardour, sometimes aggravates itself into a seemingly harsh and 
vindictive resistance. It is this privilege of perpetual watchful- 
ness — this unrestricted right of questioning the exercise of power 
and authority with a stern and unequivocal independence, which con- 
stitutes and establishes the freedom of a people united in the bonds 
of a political organization. And in a community occupying a ter- 
ritory of such vast extent and expansion as our own, stretching 
from the icy shores of the north to the orange groves of the south, 
and spreading daily into the almost illimitable wilderness of their 
national domain — with interests most varied — with domestic insti- 
tutions dissimilar and almost incongruous — combining with the per- 
plexities of personal interest and the irritation of personal disap- 
pointment — it will always be, as it always has been, that the most 
beneficent action of government will, in some quarter or other, 
excite temporary discontent, and provoke an opposition too vehe- 
ment to admit of an immediate and universal appreciation of its 
merits. In this inevitable concomitant of the purest and wisest of 
human efforts, the administration of Andrew Jackson but shared 
the fate of those of all his illustrious predecessors, over which the 
same cloud was once cast, dimming for a season, in his own expres- 
sive language, even "the lights that flow from the mind that 
founded and the mind that reformed our system." 

But in the midst of conflicting opinions relative to the political 
expediency or even the constitutional soundness of some of his mea- 
sures, justice will at least accord to the head of the administration 
great vigour in the pursuit of whatever was in accordance with his 



176 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

opinions, and an undoubted integrity of purpose in their adoption 
And leaving the heated controversies of the past to the considera- 
tion of other times more remote from the ardour of that excitement 
which may not yet have all been soothed into rest — when the pas- 
sion that disturbs, the interest that warps, and the prejudice that 
confounds the judgment, shall no longer interpose their misguiding 
influences, a grateful people may unite in a common homage of 
veneration for the great civilian, in remembrance of his unques- 
tioned principles, and those more signal services which commanded 
the rewards of an almost universal respect and approbation. 

The great object which Andrew Jackson proposed to himself in 
his civil administration was to maintain and strengthen the repub- 
lican institutions of his country ; for above all other forms of p ■ 
litical organization he believed them capable of advancing the re- 
finements and elevation of civilization, the hopes of liberty, a 
the rights of mankind. In his judgment "there are no necessa 
evils in government. Its evils exist in its abuses. If it woi 
confine itself to equal protection, and, as Heaven does its rail 
shower its favours alike on the high and the low, the rich and t 
poor, it would be an unqualified blessing." His great princip 
was equality of right — equal diffusion of favour — of protection — i 
opportunity of enjoyment to all under the genial influence of r 
publican institutions; and therefore, regardless of all the tempt 
tions of power, the insinuations of favouritism, and the delusioi 
of the flattering promises of partial and temporary expedients, h 
strove " to increase the value and prolong the duration of Amer 
can liberty, by a strict observance of the sacred charter of the cor. 
stitution, the supremacy of the laws enacted in conformity to il 
provisions, and the preservation of the federal Union." For thi 
purpose he studied the provisions of the constitution in a spirit o 
liberal and enlightened investigation, and arrived at his conclusion 
of what was a just and true construction to be given to all its parts 
only after first acquiring a thorough acquaintance with its contem 
poraneous history, the objects sought to be attained in its formation 
and the wants of the people whose rights it was intended to secure 
and protect. 

Discriminating, with a keen and close observation, between the 
powers which it conferred and those which were reserved to the 
states, he would allow no possible consideration either to diminish 
or enlarge its grants, its prohibitions, or injunctions. While he 
held with a grasp which nothing could unloose the entire measure 
and uttermost reach of its authority, he stood like an armed senti- 
nel ready to repel with his utmost force every encroachment, by 
ingenious and plausible construction, beyond its limits. In this 
scrupulous observance of all its mandates, whether of action or 
forbearance, his determination was resolute, and his vigilance never 



merrick's eulogy. 177 

tired. He used, with a freedom which knew no limits, because 
none were prescribed in the instrument by which it was given, the 
executive power of control over every act of legislation which he 
deemed an infringement or abuse of its authority. And his presi- 
dential vetoes, unfolding his principles, expounding his doctrines, 
and defending his opinions, are at once among the most animated 
and convincing of all his productions, and shed lights upon branches 
of the great body of constitutional law, than which nothing can 
be found more luminous or masterly in the elaborate disquisitions 
of statesmen and jurists. 

Laws constitutionally enacted he held, like the great charter 

itself, to be superior and unquestionable : and he felt bound at once 

*VJobey, and coerce the obedience of others to all their requisitions. 

'5§ey represented, in his mind, the will of the people, which he 

yarded as the great sovereignty from which only could emanate 

y just human authority ; and, identified with them in every 

Dught of his heart, it was not less against his nature than the 

nvictions of his understanding to oppose the lawfully expressed 

anifestations of their will. 

The supremacy of the law was therefore, with him, an inborn, 

grained, indwelling principle. He loved and worshipped liberty ; 

xt it was liberty guarded, restrained, enlivened, and protected by 

itablished law; and that which rises in rebellion against its guide, 

.- grows wanton and licentious in its prostration ; for such laws he 

ved or could lay down his life ; and to its universal observance 

e gave always the devotion of his official superintendence, and 

3e more precious and prevailing influence of his personal exam- 

>le. Its illustrations mark every vicissitude of his existence, and 

rowd every page of his history. Never, in all the passages of 

ime, was there a sublimer spectacle of obedience to law than when 

le, the hero of New Orleans, almost in the moment of his proudest 

'ictory, laid down the sword he had drawn for his country on the 

dtar of its justice, and though he deemed it most unjust, cheerfully 

oaid the legal penalty of alleged transgression. Who, who does 

lot rejoice that a grateful country has reversed the judgment of its 

:ourt, and wiped out for ever the painful imputation of its record? 

For the preservation of the federal Union, no magistrate ever 

"made nobler exertions, or brought to its support wiser counsels of 

tithe understanding, or purer emotions of the heart. The first of 

duties, it was first also in his affections: and his administration 

is immortalized in the glory and triumph of its defence. Union, 

the union of the states, was with him an object of unceasing hope, 

unmeasured trust, and commanding veneration. All his efforts, 

plans, measures, were designed to secure its unmarred integrity. 

He guarded it with simple but imposing dignity of deportment 

against all aggression or injustice from abroad ; and with paternal 



178 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

solicitude, but inflexible resolution, against combinations formed, 
and danger threatening its disruption from within. 

Upon his accession to the chief magistracy, the government was 
perplexed with the embarrassment of numerous long-standing and 
complicated causes of complaint against foreign nations, arising 
chiefly from their unlawful aggressions during the violent wars in 
which all Europe had been involved. 

The president resolved that such annoyances should cease to 
exist. He ascertained, with the utmost precision and exactness, 
what was the claim of justice and of truth ; and for that, and that 
only, he asked ; but he asked in tones of demand which would 
brook no denial. Refusing to move in the tortuous course of an 
insidious and hypocritical diplomacy, he followed the advice and 
imitated the example of Washington, in the adoption of u the im- 
mutable principles of private morality" as the only foundation of 
all his official intercourse or communication with other nations. 
He would "ask for nothing that was not clearly right, and would 
submit to nothing that was wrong." 

Acting upon this true, this enduring, this republican principle, 
his demands could be neither evaded, unanswered, nor repelled. 
And he thus procured an honourable restitution to be accorded by 
the just, and by steady perseverance forced a compliance with the 
requirements of equity from the reluctant and unwilling ; and all 
these causes of vexatious disturbance were finally removed by ad- 
justments, equitable and satisfactory ; whilst amid all the compli- 
cated and protracted negotiations by which such results were ac- 
complished, the honour and faith of the country were preserved 
untarnished ; and its peace, undisturbed, was secure in the termi- 
nation of disputes, and the restoration and prevalence of sentiments 
only of concord and harmony. Yet, however grateful were these 
results, or just and appropriate the means used for their attainment, 
the accomplishment even of such objects was often attended with 
difficulty, and sometimes with peril ; and once, at least, when the 
jealous sensibility of France hesitated in the path of justice, the 
signs of war became visible in the horizon, and the lofty attitude 
and inflexible resolution of the president, seemed to render its oc- 
currence inevitable. 

It was then that an eloquent opponent of his administration, now 
returning with distinguished honour from a foreign embassy, said 
on the floor of Congress — " Sir, if the president will so temper his 
policy as to carry this country honourably through the controversy 
without a war, he will draw upon his head the blessings of men 
whose voices have never mingled with the incense of his flatterers; 
and his name in the eyes of all mankind will appear fairer and 
brighter than when he came out from the blazing lines of New 
Orleans, in all the freshness of his victory and its honours." The 



merrick's eulogy. 179 

war teas averted, and the honour of the country was preserved 
without a stain or a spot on its shield ; and the hope and prediction 
of eloquence were both realized together. The most chivalrous 
of nations retired from her position-. The irresistible policy of 
justice averted all peril from the Union, and added new titles of 
renown to the fame of its venerable chief; and the blessings of the 
generation who witnessed the bravery of his resolution, and of the 
generation who mourn his death, have flown, and will flow con- 
tinually in an unbroken stream upon his head. 

But the republic may receive deeper wounds than foreign foes 
can inflict with all their armaments. Fleets and armies encoun- 
tered at the shore, or met upon its borders, may be beheld without 
dismay ; for the soil that sustains a unittd people, struggling for 
the liberties of their country, the endearments of its home, and the 
consecrated altars of its worship, will not long endure the footsteps 
of a foreign foe. War with other nations, calamitous as it is even 
in its most favoured aspects, has yet its redeeming circumstances in 
attendance upon its progress. The conflict of defence gives new 
value to national possession, unfolds great virtues, exalts the senti- 
ments of patriotism, and the triumph of arms and the brilliancy 
of victory become the pledges and security of peace. But the 
warfare of intestine feuds and domestic convulsion is an unmiti- 
gated evil ; its corruptions canker the heart and consume the vitals 
of the community ; and it must be suppressed, or its end inevitably 
is national dissolution, with all the miseries of private calamity and 
public dishonour. 

Undoubtedly by far the most important and alarming political 
questions which have ever arisen under the constitution since its 
adoption, were those created by the measures pursued by South Ca- 
rolina during the administration of President Jackson, in resistance 
of the laws of the United States for the collection of its revenue. 

Not claiming to exercise that great fundamental popular right 
which precedes and underlies all constitutions and forms of govern- 
ment — that incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to re- 
form, alter, or totally change the government when their protection, 
safety, prosperity, and happiness require it — South Carolina insisted 
that under the constitution, and in strict conformity to the terms 
upon which she had entered the Union, and to her obligation to the 
rest of the United States, it was competent for her people to de- 
nounce a law of Congress as unconstitutionl, null and void, and to pro- 
hibit all execution of its provisions within the limits of her territory. 
And in pursuance of this extravagant assumption, a popular conven- 
tion, assembled in conformity to an act of her legislature, assumed 
the tremendous responsibility of abolishing the obnoxious law, and 
of placing the state in an attitude of open, direct, and undisguised 
hostility to the general government. 



180 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Never could there be in the history of an ardent, generous, and 
free people, a crisis of more thrilling interest or portentous disaster 
than this ; but never could there have been found a magistrate better 
fitted for so terrible an emergency than Andrew Jackson. In the 
gravity of his wisdom he paused in the reflection that the prosperity 
and happiness of the existing and of unborn generations, under a 
constitution establishing the freest government on earth, bound to- 
gether in the bonds of a political union cemented with the blood 
of a noble and self-sacrificing ancestry, depended upon his decision, 
his prudence, his counsel, and his strength. He examined all the 
questions involved in the great controversy with the most thorough 
and searching scrutiny, in ever} r aspect in which they could be con- 
sidered, in every light in which they could be presented. And 
throwing himself into the arms of the people, and relying upon 
their stability in virtue, and loyalty in patriotism, he issued, in the 
form of a proclamation, one of the most remarkable papers ever 
addressed by a government to its citizens. Demolishing the sophis- 
try of opposing arguments, and unfolding with the utmost clearness 
the true principles of constitutional union, he appealed, with all 
the earnestness that danger could inspire, and all the affection that 
could warm the heart of a father, to the generous and manly people 
of his native state to abandon the mad project of disunion, and re- 
unite with their fellow-citizens in lawful and constitutional measures 
for the redress of all real or apprehended grievances. 

But finally, he announced his unalterable determination, upon 
their refusal to comply with their constitutional obligations, to en- 
force the execution of the laws thev had assumed to annul, at the 
hazard of every consequence. His simple but authoritative man- 
date — " the Union, it must be preserved" — came like sunshine 
through the cloud, like the benignant light of the guiding star 
through the mists of ocean to the anxious mariner tossed on its bil- 
lows. The effect was electrical, grand, and decisive. The ranks 
of opposition swayed away from their organization, and every de- 
fender of the constitution rushed to the rampart to stand by its noble 
and fearless representative. The voices of congratulation, of defence, 
of compromise, mingled together, and the thanksgivings for a 
Union preserved went up once more from the hearts of a united 
people. 

It is of the glory of Washington, that he impressed upon his 
countrymen, in language worthy to be uttered by the father of his 
country, the value of our national Union — urging upon them " to 
think and speak of it as the palladium of their political safety and 
prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, and 
indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to 
alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the 
sacred ties which now link together the various parts." But An- 






Merrick's eixogy. 181 

drew Jackson lived in the times which the prophetic eye of his 
illustrious predecessor foresaw were among the possibilities of future 
disaster; and it is of his glory to have practically exemplified the 
exhortation of Washington by an actual salvation of the Union in 
its integrity against the most formidable and dangerous combination 
concerted for its destruction. The hopes for its perpetual duration 
were never brighter than when his eye cast its last glance on the 
prosperity of his country. 

The serene tranquillity of the years of his declining age are in 
touching contrast with the fervid energy of his life of public em- 
ployment. He turned, when that employment was past, with 
thankful gladness back to the home of his youth and his affection, 
to seek in its seclusion, repose from the pressure of constant care 
and unremitted excitement. With what just satisfaction might the 
venerable patriot look back from the sequestered shades of the Her- 
mitage, upon a life of such service ! so true to his country ! so en- 
nobled by illustrious achievement ! With animating recollections 
of the past, and a heart always beating for the welfare of the people 
he served, his old age was sustained by the consolations of friend- 
ship, and the unfailing hope of a religious trust. The plaudits of 
his hour of glory were softened into benignant benedictions at his 
tomb. 

His character is developed in the history of his life. Andrew 
Jackson was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable of the great 
men of his age. In all the relations of life, he presented mani- 
festations which marked his pre-eminence, and assured his ascen- 
dency. From a childhood, which in its origin gave no promise of 
advancement, he rose to the highest stations of military command 
and civil authority, and the magnificence of the soldier was tran- 
scended only by the majestic successes' of the statesman. His patri- 
otism knew no bounds but his country ; and the hope, the joy, the 
ambition of his heart, all centred in its prosperity, under the ever- 
lasting Union of the states. 

If you would honour his memory, remember that great lesson of 
his love and affection, and devote yourselves to the preservation of 
the Union ; knowing that your efforts in its behalf are the noblest 
manifestations of your cherished attachment to the counsels of his 
life. Teach to your children its history ; and bid them emulate the 
bright examples of the heroes, the statesmen, and patriots who have 
gone before them. The avenues of the citadel of strength and 
posts of honour, are open to universal competition. The freedom- 
giving institutions of our country call to her highest honours her 
children from the workshop, the city, and the farm. 

This is the history of the past and the prognostic of the future 
The youthful Washington was but a surveyor of land ; the philoso- 
phy of Franklin started with his apprenticeship in a printing office; 
16 



182 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Andrew Jackson was an almost uneducated orphan boy of the 
wilderness ; the hosts of the illustrious dead, and the ranks of living 
eminence have come, if there be such a thing in our glorious 
country, from the humblest origin. No man knows to what destiny 
his son shall succeed ; but knowing that he may rise to the highest 
— that his career may inscribe the deepest lines that shall shade or 
adorn his country, let the purest patriotism be instilled into his 
bosom, and inspire the dawning vision of his expanding faculties. 

So shall the Union — the glorious and time-honoured Union of the 
United States — be preserved and sustained, and sent on, a combina- 
tion of power — a spectacle of heart-cheering magnificence, and an 
inexhaustible fountain of blessings to succeeding posterity ; that 
when age after age the fathers shall be sleeping in silence, there 
shall be, for ever, a generation of sons to rally under the spreading 
folds of its glorious banner, to defend and enjoy their inheritance 
of freedom. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT PETERSBURG, VA , JULY 12, 1845, 



BY 



HUGH A. GARLAND, Esq. 



The solemn toll of funeral bells — the loud peal of the minute- 
gun, now echoing in our ears, announce that this is no ordinary 
occasion that brings us together. It is in truth no common event 
we have come to commemorate. One of the great actors of the 
world's history has ceased to act. The part it was the destiny of 
Andrew Jackson to perform in the drama of human life, has been 
fully, perfectly, nobly performed, and he has received his permis- 
sion to depart. 

Those that have seen him will see him no more. Those who 
have never beheld his manly form and venerable white locks, can 
never hope to enjoy that pleasure. What of mortal was in him has 
put on immortality. Henceforth his name will rank among those 
who have wrought as master-workmen in the field of time, and 
made the world's history such as it is and not otherwise. 

Had he never lived, the recorded deeds of his own times would 
have been far different from what they are known to be : and the 
history of the future, which is but the developement and result of 
the past and the present, would not have been what it will be — 
deeply stamping the impress of his character and genius on the 
age in which he lived — his words and deeds, now that he is dead, 
garnered up in the treasury of histoty, and pregnant with the 
germ of vitality, are destined to grow, and multiply, and bring 
forth fruit for all ages to come. 

Who, then, was Andrew Jackson ? 

Fathers and sons, give heed to what I say — mothers and daugh- 
ters, lend me your attention! It is of no ordinary man I speak, 
nor is it for the dead I speak, — but the living. Were it permitted 
those who have once shaken off this mortal coil again to return 
and take part in the affairs of those they loved, Andrew Jackson 

(183) 



184 



MONIMENT TO JACKSON. 



would now, in bodily presence as he is in spirit, be in the midst of 
this assembly, praying that what may be uttered this day, shall be 
blessed to your good. 

He of whom we speak began life a poor boy. He wrought out 
his fortune and fame by his own valiant right arm, unaided by 
aught else save the kind providence of God. He was the son of 
poor Irish emigrants, who in the wilderness of America sought a 
home and refuge from the grinding exactions of an oppressor, 
whose iron heel had trodden down their own Erin Isle, and made 
it, for many generations, a land of violence and blood. 

Andrew, the youngest of three sons, was born on the adopted 
soil of his father. But he never knew the value of a fat he r's care. 
While he was yet an infant, his widowed mother, left alone in a 
strange land, had devolved on her the care of three helpless 
children. 

At the age of thirteen, Andrew Jackson was not, like the boys 
of our day, engaged in some school or academy, learning Greek and 
Latin, and mathematics, storing his mind with knowledge, and pre- 
paring himself for future usefulness. He was in the field, not the 
corn-field or wheat-field, reaping the fruits of honest industry, but 
in the battle-field, fighting in defence of his country. 

The boy of thirteen, with sword and gun, rode by the side of 
Marion, and Davie, and Sumter, renowned leaders, whose deeds of 
daring are familiar to the youngest child that hears me. Those 
heroic men, by their valour and fortitude, filled the world with 
admiration, and called back in imagination the age of chivalry and 
romance, yet they did not surpass the heroism and fortitude of their 
youthful companion. It was no common M-ar in which he was 
called to engage, in the Waxhaw Settlement. It was a civil war, 
indeed — a war of extermination, in which neighbour practised 
on neighbour such deeds of cruelty as would have put the Creeks 
or Cherokees to shame. Those who in former days had set in 
the shadow of his mother's door, broken bread at her hospitable 
hoard, and spoken words of neighbourly kindness to her widowed 
heart, now sought to wrap her humble dwelling in flames, and to 
take the life of her fatherless children. The patriot soldier dared 
not visit his own home, and seek an hour's repose in the bosom of 
his family, without a body-guard to protect him from the assault of 
his tory neighbours. On one such occasion, Andrew Jackson and 
his brother Robert, with four or five others, volunteered to stand 
guard for Captain Lands, while he sought a night's repose with his 
family. At midnight, when all were asleep, having no immediate 
apprehension of an attack, a party of tories, divided into platoons, 
approached the house in front and rear. One wakeful soldier, hear- 
ing a noise, went out and saw the party approaching in front. Run- 



garland's eulogy. 185 

ning back in terror, he seized Andrew Jackson by the hair, ex- 
claiming, "The tories are upon us!" 

Jackson sprang up, ran out to the front door, and challenged the 
approaching party. Again he challenged — but no answer — he 
fired — his fire was returned by a volley from the whole platoon. 
The soldier by his side fell dead — he retreated to the door, and 
with two others defended it to the last extremity. Both his com- 
panions fell ; but he stood unhurt, fighting to the last. A fortunate 
circumstance caused the enemy to retreat, and the young hero had 
the satisfaction to know that his promptness and valour had saved 
his friend from assassination, and the family and property of his 
friend from insult and destruction. Delightful foretaste of that 
greater bliss which was to fill his joyful heart, when in his tri- 
umphal march he trod upon the roses scattered in his path by the 
rescued maidens of New Orleans ! 

On another occasion, when a band of patriots were waiting at the 
Waxhaw meeting-house for some of their companions, they saw a 
party approaching that they took to be friends ; but, on a nearer 
view, discovered them to be tories in citizen's dress, with a body 
of British dragoons in rear. Many by this stratagem were cap- 
tured. But Robert and Andrew Jackson, light boys with brave 
hearts, on fleet horses made their escape through the woods and 
swamps. They stayed out all night, and on entering a house next 
day, in search of something to eat, were surrounded by the dra- 
goons and taken prisoners. While there, a British officer, a dis- 
grace to his name and profession, demanded of Andrew Jackson to 
perform an ignominious office, which he indignantly refused. Boys! 
what would you have done in his situation ? A helpless captive, 
in the hands of ruthless soldiers — an insolent officer, with bent 
brows and uplifted sword, demanding of you to clean his boots 
— what would you have done? In such helplessness, and with 
such threatening danger overhanging you, would you not have 
slunk away, and quietly cleaned the mud from the boots of your 
insolent captor ? Not so Andrew Jackson ! Boy as he was — de- 
fenceless as he was, he scornfully refused ;. demanding to be treated 
with the respect due to a prisoner of war and a gentleman. Did 
the British officer receive with admiration that act of heroism, and 
extend a hand of forgiveness to the youthful hero ? He struck a 
violent blow at his head ! Jackson, throwing up his left arm, re- 
ceived the stroke that was aimed at his life. The arm was broken, 
but the heroic life was saved, to chastise, in after years, that act of 
British tyranny and insolence. 

The same ignominious task was now required of Robert. He 

with equal spirit refused, and received a sabre-stroke on his head, 

which not many weeks afterwards proved fatal to his life. Those 

two Wounded boys were marched to Camden ; not a mouthful of 

16* 



1 86 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

food or drop of water was given them by the way. The brutal 
savages, with British uniform on their backs, refused them even 
the privilege of slaking their fevered thirst by scooping up water 
in their hands as they rode across the river! Arriving at Camden, 
they with a multitude of others were thrust into prison. No atten- 
tion was paid to their wounds or their wants. They had no beds, 
nor any substitute — their only food was a scanty supply of bad 
bread. They were robbed of their clothing, taunted by tories with 
being rebels, and assured that they would be hanged. Andrew 
Jackson was stripped of his jacket and shoes, and separated from 
his brother so soon as their relationship was know*. The small- 
pox made its appearance among the prisoners. JNo step was taken 
to stay its progress or mitigate its ravages. Denied the attentions of 
physician or nurse, they were left to perish without sympathy or 
compassion. In this state of things, Andrew Jackson fell into con- 
versation with the officer of the guard, described the condition of 
the prisoners, and remonstrated against the treatment they had re- 
ceived. A boy not yet fourteen years of age, who had proven that 
he neither feared the sword nor the insolence of power, now dared, 
in a dungeon surrounded with disease, squalor, and death, to con- 
front his stern keepers, and in the honest and simple eloquence of 
youth, tell the truth to ears most unwilling to hear it. Heroic 
lad! how my soul yearns over thee! and even in sadness rejoiceth 
that human nature, with all its vileness, is endowed with so much 
of the Godlike ! How I long, bold youth ! to take thee in my 
arms, and from the light of thine eyes and the proud swell of thy 
bosom, draw some inspiration of the divine nature that fills thee! 

Hearing in her loneliness of the capture and confinement of her 
sons, Mrs. Jackson hastened down to Camden to minister to their 
wants and rescue them from captivity. What a spectacle to a fond 
mother! Both infected with the small-pox — both emaciated to 
skeletons, and almost naked ! By the kind assistance of an Ameri- 
can officer, she effected an exchange of prisoners, with her sons 
included in the number, and immediately started home with hep 
melancholy charge. 

There were but two horses for the whole company. Mrs. Jack- 
son rode one — on the other Robert was held by his companions, 
while Andrew walked barefooted and half-clad. They journeyed 
forty miles through a desolate country, and before reaching home, 
a drenching rain drove in the small-pox on both the boys. In a 
few days, Robert breathed his last — Andrew became delirious, and 
remained for some time in a hopeless condition. By the constant 
care of a good Samaritan, he was at length restored — the only son 
of his widowed mother! 

But this saint-like woman was not content with the rescue of her 
own children. No sooner was her now only son restored to life, 



Oakland's eulogy. 187 

thin she hastened down to Charleston, to minister to the wants of 
her countrymen, confined in the prison-ships there — whose suffer- 
ings and privations were ordy surpassed by the poor wretches 
crammed into the middle passage of an African slave-ship. She 
went — accomplished her mission of mercy — but never returned. 
Seized with the prison-fever on her way back, she fell by the way- 
side, and was buried, no mortal knows where. Andrew Jackson 
never knew where to find his mother's grave — never knew where 
to pour out his orphan tears on the senseless clod that covered the 
remains of all that was dear to him on earth ! Hapless was his fate! 
A father's care he never knew — his eldest brother long- since gone 
— Robert murdered — and his mother now a victim to the cruelties 
of the same ruthless enemy. Like Logan, or "The ancient mariner" 
far out at sea with his companions all dead, could he exclaim — 

" Alone! alone, all, all alone! 
Alone on the wide, wide sea!" 

But he was not alone. There was a God that overruled his des- 
tiny — that set him apart and ordained him as a fit instrument to ac- 
complish his divine purposes in the history of man. He had no 
father, like Hannibal, to lead him to the altar of his country and 
make him swear eternal hostility to Roman power. But in the 
silent depths of his orphan heart, and in the presence of the God 
that guided his footsteps, did he swear eternal vengeance against 
that modern Rome, whose iron heel for centuries had trodden out 
the spirit of his father-land, who had sought to subjugate the land 
of his birth, the refuge of the oppressed, and had steeped his mur- 
derous sword in the blood of his own kindred! 

Bereft of the guardianship of father or mother, or friends, with 
the idle and dissolute habits contracted in times of confusion 
and civil war, he soon squandered the little patrimony that was 
left him. And to all discerning eyes, the lad, Andrew Jackson, 
was destined to wander a vagabond through the world, and doomed 
to a life of want and profligacy. But the divine fire that burned 
in his bosom, kindled up an energy that enabled him to make his 
greatest conquest — the conquest of himself. He fled from the coun- 
try in which he was born — forsook the companions that led him 
astray ; and in a strange land threw away his bad habits and com- 
menced a new life. 

In a retired part of North Carolina he devoted himself to the 
study of law — soon obtained license and removed to the western 
part of Tennessee, where he was appointed, by the government, 
district attorney. He grew up with the rapid growth of this new 
country : was a conspicuous member of the convention that framed 
the constitution of the state — was her first member in Congress — 
then senator — then judge of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, — 



1S8 M0NWMENT TO JACKSON. 

from all these civil stations he voluntarily retired, the last, against 
the earnest remonstrances of the best men in the state, and of a 
large portion of fhe legislature, who entreated him to remain on 
the bench, "that our common country may derive additional benefits 
from those powers of thought and that independence of mind,which 
nature never designed should be lost in retirement." With only 
the nominal title of major-general of the Tennessee militia, he 
lived for many years on the banks of his own beautiful Cumberland, 
indulging in those blissful sweets of domestic life 'which he knew 
so well how to appreciate and enjoy. 

But the time was now come when he had to fulfil that silent oath 
taken when an orphan boy standing alone amid the wreck of his 
family and his country. Like Moses called from the land of Je- 
thro to deliver his people from bondage, Jackson had now to come 
from his retirement that he might avenge his familv and his father- 

DO J 

land, and save his country from captivity. 

England, striding the earth like a Colossus, and subjugating the 
nations beneath her iron yoke, turned once more her jealous eyes 
on these flourishing states, once her subject colonies. She plun- 
dered our commerce, captured our seamen, insulted our flag, and 
drove us into a war in defence of our honour and our independence. 

War was declared in June, 1812. In the autumn of that year, 
after the treachery and disasters of the northern frontier, Jackson 
was called to the defence of the Mississippi and New Orleans. 
His proclamation rang through the hills and valleys of Tennessee; 
and the brave sons of the pioneers of civilization flocked to the 
standard of their untried but beloved chief. Not fifteen hundred 
only, according to the requisition, but two thousand and more ga- 
thered around him on the 12th day of December, at Nashville, 
amidst sleet and cold and snow, ready to follow him to victory or 
death. In a few weeks they were encamped near Natchez, ready 
to march down to New Orleans, Mobile, or Pensacola, or anywhere 
that their country might call, or the enenvy make his appearance. 

While in this encampment, Jackson clevoted himself to the most 
important duty of a commanding general — the organization and 
discipline of his army. Having none but volunteer troops around 
him — young men educated in unrestrained freedom, accustomed to 
no other words of authority but their own commands to their obe- 
dient slaves, his task was difficult indeed. But by his example, his 
persuasive eloquence appealing to their honour and patriotism — by 
his inflexible justice, and unwavering firmness, those young men 
were made cheerfully to submit to the privations of the camp, and 
the discipline of military life. They loved their general — they 
had faith in his capacity, his justice, and his bravery. By the 
magic of love and faith, a band of raw recruits were soon converted 
into an enthusiastic, well trained, and invincible army. 



garland's eulogy. 189 

What must have been the mortification of this little patriotic 
band, when the order unexpectedly came for their discharge ! "On 
the receipt of this letter (sa}'s the secretary of war), you will con- 
sider the corps under your command as dismissed from the public 
service, and take measures to have delivered to Major-General 
Wilkinson all articles of public property which may have been put 
into its possession." 

A deeper wound could not have been inflicted on a patriotic soul 
than this cruel and unexpected order of government. By great 
exertions and personal sacrifices, Jackson had called together, orga- 
nized, and disciplined a band of ardent youth eager to devote them- 
selves to the cause of their country. Suddenly, and without cause, 
they are ordered to be discharged and sent home without arms, 
without tents, without provisions, or camp equipage of any kind. 
Their homes were five hundred miles distant, they had to march 
through a country without roads, without the means of shelter or 
subsistence, and filled with hostile Indians. To disband them un- 
der such circumstances to find their way home as they could 
through a savage and wilderness country, was to subject them to 
the certain horrors of the tomahawk, disease, and famine. 

But the order is plain and direct. Wherever it meets him, under 
whatever circumstances, the corps under his command is to be dis- 
missed from the public service. What is to be done? A board 
of officers advise obedience to the order. An ordinary man, the 
mere slave of routine and detail, would have complied ; followed 
strictly the letter of his order without consideration of circum- 
stances, abandoned his army, and retired in disgust. 

It was an occasion to try men's souls, what stuff they were made 
of — and Jackson proved equal to the crisis. " What !" said he, 
" shall the word of Andrew Jackson be forfeited ? Did I not pro- 
mise to be a father and friend to these young men, when, in obe- 
dience to my call, they flocked to the standard of their country? 
What did I promise to the daughters of Tennessee that cold and 
snowy day last December, when we struck our tents and took up the 
line of march ? Did they not gather around me with tears in their 
eyes and say, General ! general ! I trust my father to you — my hus- 
band — my son — general ! I know you will take care of them — I know 
you will see that justice is done them, and that they come safely back 
home — general, I have faith in you, and I know you will not dis- 
appoint me. Shall I now dismiss them to wander through a savage 
wilderness without subsistence or means of defence — or shall I 
abandon them in their frail condition to enlist as slaves in Wilkin- 
son's army, whose recruiting officers are already among us to entice 
them away ? It shall not be done. I will march them back as they 
came, and dismiss them like honourable soldiers on the ground where 
they first assembled." 



190 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

When about to commence his retreat, the surgeon reported one 
young man as dying, and that it was useless for him to cumber the 
already overloaded wagons. " So long as there is life in him," says 
Jackson, " he shall go." He gave up his own horse for the sick, 
as did his staff, and marched on foot. When the young man who 
was reported to be dying, recovered from his swoon, he exclaimed, 
"Where am I!" 

" On your way home, my good fellow," said Jackson, who was 
trudging'along through the mud by his side. The young man im- 
mediately revived, and began to mend from that hour, and when 
they reached Nashville, the good general had the pleasure to restore 
him safe and sound to his mother. 

Although shamefully treated, and sought to be disgraced by the 
machinations of jealous rivals, Jackson was not like ordinary men, 
disgusted and driven from the service of his country. On his re- 
turn homeward, he again offered himself and his brave volunteers 
to the war department, and asked to be marched to the northern 
frontiers, that they might wipe out there the recent disgrace of 
treachery and defeat. " I have a few standards," says he, " with 
the American eagle upon them, that I long to plant on the ram- 
parts of Maiden." No disappointments could discourage him — no 
ill treatment could disgust him, while the cause of his country 
called for his services. 

The conduct of General Jackson on this occasion, in refusing to 
obey the orders of government, has been considered as an act of 
disobedience more worthy to be blamed than praised. But those 
who thus regard it, have not a just view of the question. When 
government issue their orders to a commanding general on a remote 
field of operations, where their knowledge of localities is limited, 
and their means of communication slow and uncertain, they assume 
a certain state of things to exist, on which their orders are predi- 
cated. But when the commands of government reach the officer 
whose duty it is to execute them, the actual posture of affairs may 
be wholly different from what was anticipated, and an execution of 
them may cause harm rather than good to the public service. In 
such a case, it is presumed that the commanding officer has so much 
of the confidence of his government as to warrant him in assuming 
the responsibility of varying the execution of his orders to suit the 
actual state of things, and throwing himself on the justice and 
magnanimity of his country for justification. It is true that this is 
a difficult and delicate task to perform. None but a most extraordi- 
nary man can venture on it* It requires a clear and comprehensive 
intellect to see through and understand the real circumstances in 
which he is placed, a bold and firm heart to execute what the 
judgment approves. Such a man was Andrew Jackson. He who, 
when a boy in the dungeon of Camden, did not fear to speak the 



garland's eulogy. 191 

truth, would not, when a man, under the most trying circumstances, 
fail to act the truth. 

When government issued their orders to disband his army, it was 
on the supposition that he had not left the borders of Tennessee. 
Little did they know the promptness and energy of the man they 
had to deal with. Instead of finding him lino-erina; on the Cum- 
berland, their orders found him five hundred miles on his way to 
the scene of action, with an army already organized, equipped, and 
disciplined for service. When, therefore, they came to understand 
the grounds on which he declined full obedience to their commands, 
they not only approved but justified his conduct, and promptly paid 
the five thousand dollars he had borrowed at Natchez on his own 
responsibility to sustain his troops on their homeward march. 

Though the country professed not to need the services of this in- 
valuable man along the Canada lines, it was not long before he was 
called to defend the borders of Tennessee from the tomahawk of 
the ruthless savages. 

Just before and about the time of the declaration of war, there 
was a general hostile movement among the Indian tribes ; instigated 
by British intrigues and their own spirit of revenge for the en- 
croachments of the white man — they had formed an extensive 
combination to drive the American settlers back beyond the Alle- 
ghany, and reclaim their old homes and hunting-grounds in the 
valley of the Mississippi. At the head of this savage alliance was 
Tecumseh of the Shawnees. He went from tribe to tribe, and 
filled their young warriors and prophets with such a spirit of 
frenzy, that they resolved on an indiscriminate massacre, without 
asking or giving quarters. The Creeks, who occupied what is now 
the state of Alabama, the most warlike and numerous tribe within 
the borders of the states, entered warmly into those schemes of war, 
massacre, and extermination. In the autumn of 1813, they com- 
menced operations by an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women, 
and children, in the Tensaw settlement on the Alabama river. 
Then collecting in a large body, not less than five thousand strong, 
they commenced their march towards the southern frontier of Ten- 
nessee. At this moment of consternation and alarm, Jackson was 
called to the rescue. When his voice was heard, the sons of Ten- 
nessee hastened to his standard without number. 

He who had stood by them and brought them safely home last 
spring, at the hazard of his own life and reputation, could not fail 
to have their services whenever called on. We may well imagine 
that the women vied with the men in their zeal and alacrity. " Go, 
my son ! go, my husband ! Jackson, your father and friend, calls 
you — vour country is in danger — go, help him to chastise the 
savages — he will take care of you, and bring you safely back 
home. He did not forsake you — don't you forsake him." 



192 MONUMKXT TO JACKSON. 

Jackson soon found himself on the south side of the Tennessee 
river, at the head of an army amply sufficient to exterminate the 
Creek nation ; but without support and without provisions. 

General Cocke, of East Tennessee, with twenty-five hundred 
men, had been ordered to unite with Jackson and act under his 
command. The same officer had faithfully promised an ample sup- 
ply of provisions, which were supposed to be on their way down 
the river. Jackson waited several days, then marched up the river 
to Thompson's creek, where he remained in hourly expectation of 
provisions. But there was no arrival, and no prospect of an arri- 
val. In this state of things, without the reinforcements thought 
necessary to enable him to cope with the savages, with only two 
days' provision on the back of his soldiers, he resolved to march 
down into the heart of the enemy's country, where he knew that 
nothing would be found but barren woods, deserted villages, and 
hostile armies. For boldness of design, and a fearless reliance on 
his own resources, this act is unsurpassed by any of the renowned 
achievements of Hannibal or Napoieon. Bent on the accomplish- 
ment of the object for which he was called into the field, no press- 
ing necessity, no prospective want or suffering, could arrest him. 
Any ordinary general would have waited, and he would have been 
justified by military rule, in waiting where he was for supplies and 
reinforcements. But General Jackson was not a man of rule — he 
would not tarry while there was an enemy to conquer. Press for- 
ward he must or chafe away his ardent soul with anxiety and regret. 
He carried within his own bosom the never-failing elements of suc- 
cess. He had faith in himself, faith in the boundless resources of 
a brave heart that conquers impossibilities — he had that deep and 
trustful faith in the Providence of God, which alone can remove 
mountains, and stamps its possessor with the mark of true greatness. 

Arriving at the Ten Islands on Coosa river, he established a fort, 
and called it Fort Strother. Here he waited some time, for the junc- 
tion of Gen. White, who led the van of Cocke's army, and had been 
ordered to come down with the supplies so long promised. So far 
from obeying this order, White took a retrograde motion, reformed 
with Cocke, and had it been their design to defeat the expedition, 
they could not have taken more effectual means to do so. Notwith- 
standing these cruel disappointments, that would have disheartened 
almost any other man, Jackson plunged down still further into the 
enemy's country, met their main body in front of Talladega, dis- 
persed them by a glorious victory, and rescued a friendly village, 
with all its women and children, from massacre and destruction. 
But this victorious army had not wherewithal to stay their famished 
appetites. The rescued village, gathering all their means, could 
not even furnish a scanty breakfast. 

Forced to return to Fort Strother, thev were reduced to the last 



GARLAND'S EULOGY. 193 

extremity. A soldier in the rear of the army perceived Jackson 
seated under an oak tree, leisurely eating. " Well," thought he, " the 
general has taken good care of himself, and left the poor soldier to 
starve. I'll go and beg a morsel of bread." " Yes," says the gene- 
ral, " I never turn away the hungry ;" and offering a handful of 
acorns, added, " I will most cheerfully divide with you such food 
as I have." The soldier gazed with tearful and mute admiration 
on his now thrice-beloved chief, and marched on with a more cheer- 
ful heart. There is nothing the soldier Avill not endure when 
shared by his leader. Arriving at the fort, they found the sick 
and the guard left to protect them in 'as starving a condition as 
themselves. Jackson, though mortification and anguish were con- 
suming his heart, wore a cheerful countenance, spoke brave words 
of encouragement and hope — was first to set the example in feed- 
ing on the offal of the shambles, and pronounced it very good. He 
had now to contend with a more formidable enemy even than 
famine — mutiny in his own camp. The main body of the army 
consisted of two regiments — the regiment of volunteers that had 
followed him to Natchez the winter before — and a regiment of 
drafted militia. The militia, disgusted with the neglect and ill 
treatment they had received, and seized with the home-fever, re- 
solved to quit the camp and return to Tennessee. Apprised of their 
design, Jackson drew up the regiment of volunteers in front, and 
ordered them to fire whenever the mutineers commenced their 
march. Awed by this act of boldness, the militia returned to their 
duty. 

What was the mortification of the general, next morning, to find 
the volunteers themselves in a state of rebellion ! Those very men 
that he would not abandon in their hour of need, were now ready to 
abandon him, their camp, and their duty. Unappalled by this 
rapid succession of calamities, the ready mind and prompt will of 
Jackson did not fail him. The militia, whose rebellion had been 
conquered but the day before, were now drawn up to oppose this 
new mutiny, and so stern and resolute were their countenances, 
that the volunteers thought it best to desist from their purposes and 
return to the camp. Deeming it hopeless to undertake any enter- 
prise with troops so homesick and dispirited, Jackson came to terms 
with them. He agreed that they might take up the line of march 
homeward, but in case provisions were met on the way, they were 
to return. They did meet supplies not far from the camp ; but, so 
far from returning, they seemed more determined to go forward. 
Going alone among his men, to appease them by argument and re- 
monstrance, Jackson found the spirit of mutiny so prevalent and 
determined, that he seized a musket, stood out in front of the bri- 
gade, levelled the musket across the neck of his horse, and pro- 
claimed that the first man who moved in the ranks should he shot 
17 



194 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

down. Mute astonishment seized on the whole army — no one 
moved — no one spoke. What was one emaciated and wounded 
man to a thousand — one old rusty musket, incapable of giving fire, 
to a thousand, in the hands of unerring marksmen. It was not fear 
that awed those brave men, but astonishment and admiration at the 
daring, the magnanimity, and heroic self-sacrifice of the Godlike 
man that stood before them. A murmur of applause ran along the 
lines, and they signified their willingness to return. But no sooner 
had he conquered one difficulty, than another, still greater, rose be- 
fore him. It is now the 10th of December, and the volunteers 
claim that their time of service has expired, and the militia, in a 
few days more, will likewise claim to be discharged. 

Jackson resorted to every argument that could be suggested to 
his fertile and eloquent genius. He applauded their former con- 
duct, depicted the disgrace they would bring on themselves, and 
the calamities they might produce, if they were then to abandon 
the service. After appealing to every other motive, he told them 
that he should do his duty, whatever might be the consequence, 
and if they left him, they must pass over his dead body. Ordering 
the artillery to be drawn up in front, "Now," said he, "argument 
is at an end, and you must choose, and that at once, whether you 
will go or stay." Silence prevailed along the line. He demanded 
a prompt and explicit answer. Still they were silent. Remaining 
in their front, and in range of their fire, he ordered the artillery to 
prepare their matches. "Let us return," was murmured along the 
lines. The officers came forward, and with the assent of their men, 
pledged themselves to remain. What he would not suffer them, at 
the hazard of his life, to do without authority, he now freely gave 
them permission to do. While the camp was breaking up, and the 
troops all in confusion, returning home, Jackson exclaimed, "If but 
two men will stand by me, I will not desert this post." " Here is 
one" said Captain Gordon ; " let us see if we can't find another." 
He soon raised a hundred and nine, who agreed to stand by their 
general to the last extremity. With this handful of men, Jackson 
resolved not to abandon the defence of his country. 

In this hopeless state of things, Governor Blunt wrote to him to 
come home. The answer is so characteristic of the man — so like 
the Andrew Jackson we have heard and read of in modern times, 
I cannot refrain from reading it to this assembly. After describing, 
in strong terms, the exposed and perilous condition of the country, 
he proceeds : — 

" And in these circumstances I am advised to retrograde, to leave 
the Georgia army to perish, or precipitately retreat, the friendly 
Indians to be massacred or join the enemy, the Cherokees to be 
destroyed or become our enemies, and our own frontier to be 
drenched in blood by our friendly Indians, infuriated by the trea- 



garland's eulogy. 195 

chery of the United States, — which will add at least five thousand 
desperate warriors to the present strength of our enemy, — lose all we 
have obtained with vast expense and with the blood of our citizens. 
For what purpose ? To please the people of the present moment, 
which in a short time will bring down upon our heads the impre- 
cations of those very vile reptiles in the community, who are seek- 
ing for popularity and selt-aggrandizement, and now wishing to 
wear the name of patriots, and, what is still worse, the just indig- 
nation of our government, and thousands yet unborn. Arouse from 
your lethargy ! Despise the fawning smiles or the snarling frowns of 
such miscreants. With energy exercise your functions. The cam- 
paign must rapidly progress, or you are for ever damned and your 
country ruined. Call out the full quota authorized, execute the 
orders of the secretary of war, and arrest the officer who omits hia 
duty ; order a draft for the deficiency occasioned by the desertion 
of the volunteers, and let popularity perish for the present. Let 
the miscreant who never thinks of his country or its dangers, un- 
less to promote his own views, feel the weight of the orders of his 
government. Save Mobile, save the territory, save your own 
frontier from becoming drenched in blood, and yourself from 
being damned for it by these monsters and these sycophantic 
complainers. What! retrograde under such circumstances ! I will 
perish first ! What ! a governor of a patriotic state, whose citizens 
pressed for war, who bawled for permission to exterminate the 
Creeks, to pause or hesitate at such a crisis as this! Such conduct 
cannot be justified, cannot be excused. Hear the voice of a friend : 
If you compel me to retrograde, the awful responsibility must and 
will be ascribed to you. I shall do my duty ; I will retain the post 
or die in the struggle, unless ordered to retreat by my commanding 
general. I have long since determined, when I die, to leave my 
reputation untarnished." 

In obedience to this earnest call, a few sixty-day volunteers were 
sent to his aid. With this handful of men, who had never been in 
battle, had never seen service, Jackson marched down into the 
midst of a wilderness howling with thousands of savage warriors. 
In most men this would have been rashness. But the genius and 
self-reliance of Jackson conquered what to others would have been 
impossibilities. With this small band of inexperienced young men 
he fought three of the most desperate and bloody battles in Indian 
warfare — drove the enemy from their strong holds, and finally 
brought them to capitulation on the Hickory ground — that^ sacred 
spot where the prophets had told them the foot of no white man 
could ever tread. 

"I am in your power," said Weatherford, their great chief, "do 
with me as you please. I am a soldier, I have done the white 
people all the harm I could: I have fought them, and fought them 



196 MONT'MExMT TO JACKSON. 

bravely. If I had an army I would yet fight and contend to the 
last, but I have none ; my people are all gone. Once I could ani- 
mate my warriors to battle ; but I cannot animate the dead. My 
warriors can no longer hear my voice ; their bones are at Talladega, 
Tallushatchee, Emuckfaw, and Tohopeka. I can now do no more 
than weep over the misfortunes of my nation. I have not surren- 
dered myself thoughtlessly. Whilst there were chances of success, 
I never left my post nor supplicated peace. But my people are 
gone, and I now ask it for my nation and for myself. On the mi- 
series and misfortunes brought upon my country, I look back with 
deepest sorrow, and wish to avert still greater calamities. You are 
a brave man. I rely upon your generosity. You will exact no 
terms of a conquered people but such as they should accede to. 
Whatever they may be, it would now be madness and folly to op- 
pose. You have told us where we might go and be safe. This is 
a good talk, and my people ought to listen to it. They shall listen 
to it." 

Great, magnanimous chief! how like the proud Volscian didst 
thou stand, though five times beaten, and boldly front the all-con- 
quering Roman ! Vain were thy powers ! The swift son of light- 
ning fell upon them, and they were scattered like chaff before the 
wind. 

Search the records of history, nowhere will you find, in more 
rapid succession, so many extraordinary incidents, displaying the 
bravery, fortitude, magnanimity, and greatness of the hero, than in 
this Creek campaign. Who ever did more with less means'? who 
ever encountered more difficulties in his own camp? rising higher 
and higher in his all-conquering will, triumphing over every mis- 
fortune as they came thicker and faster upon him, the soul of Jack- 
son shone before his mutinous followers as something god-like ; they 
bowed in awe before him, and obeyed his commands as a superior 
being. 

But let us hasten on. Andrew Jackson has now become major- 
general of the army of the United States. The poor prisoner boy 
of Camden, naked and barefooted, had grown up to be a mighty 
man of valour. Musing over the misfortunes of his family — the 
murder of his brother — the attempted murder of himself — the 
worse than murder of his sainted mother, — and dropping a tear over 
the remembrance of her unknown and solitary resting-place, his 
bosom burned for revenge. Not for himself — not for his own 
wrongs — these his magnanimous soul could forgive. But when he 
thought of the long ages of cruel and oppressive tyranny practised 
on the land of his fathers by the proud Briton — his attempted sub- 
jugation of his own country — his repeated insults — his recent sack 
and destruction of its towns and villages — his triumphant march 
over its defenceless soil — his invasion, and destruction of its capi- 



garland's eulogy. 197 

tol, the eager sword of the veteran warrior leaped from its scab- 
bard, burning to avenge the blood of his family, his father-land, 
and his country. The hour had now come — often dreamed of — 
often revealing itself in the silent depths of his own heart as in 
prophetic vision — it had now come. Commander-in-chief of the 
Southern division, it was his duty to defend the coast from the Sa- 
bine to the Spanish lines. This coast is threatened with invasion. 
New Orleans is the point of attack. In possession of that, the 
enemy would hold the keys of the Mississippi — the only outlet to 
the great Western valley teaming with wealth and population. In 
possession of that, Great Britain would hold us, as she boasted in 
the courts of Europe, "prisoners at large in our own territory." 
In possession of that, more important than Gibraltar or Calcutta, 
all the blood and treasure of the continent could not wrest it from 
her. No mind can conceive — time cannot reveal the importance 
of that position, to the existence and prosperity of the Union — 
the progressive developement of civilization — and the liberties of 
mankind. 

Commensurate with the importance of the position was the pre= 
paration for attack. A more formidable armament never invaded 
our coasts. Sixty sail of the line, with all the equipments of naval 
service, and burthened with fifteen thousand land forces — the choice 
troops of Wellington — the conquerors of Napoleon, with veteran 
and renowned leaders in command, are now hovering about the 
capes of Lake Borgne, seeking some channel of approach to the 
city of New Orleans. Who can imagine the consternation that 
pervaded that city ? 

" Have you heard the news'?" said a citizen to one hurrying by. 
" No ; what is it V " Sixty sail have been seen coining up Lake 
Borgne — the enemy are said to be fifteen thousand strong — in a 
few days they will land and take possession of the city. The 
watchword is ' Beauty and booty.' " " We are gone ! we are gone !" 
" But stop, havn't you heard that the American army has come for 
our defence ?" " The American army ! where is it ? where is it 
encamped? in the suburb St. Mary, suburb Marigny, or the Bayou 
road — let me go and embrace the officers and bid them welcome to 
our defence !" " Come and see !" A few steps bring them to the 
principal hotel in the city. In a remote corner of the room is 
seen a grim son of Mars, tall, erect, thin, and weather-beaten, arms 
tightly drawn across his breast, brow bent, mouth compressed, and 
eyes glowing with fire as he broods in silence over the wild tumult 
of his own thoughts. " There," said the conductor, "there is the 
American army !" " What do you say ! that grim-looking man there, 
the American army ?" " That is all, sir, the president and Congress 
have done for our defence — they have sent that man as commander- 
in-chief of the Southern division, but no armv for him to com- 
17* 



198 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

mand." " My God ! my Cod ! what is to be done 1 hopeless ! hope- 
less ! let us go and hurry through a resolution in the legislature 
proposing terms with the enemy. The government has abandoned 
us. We have nothing to do but make the best terms of capitula- 
tion we can — let us hasten before they seize and sack the city." 

This was the second day of December, 1814. Jackson arrived 
there that day solitary and alone. And yet, in twenty days from 
that time, he struck the blow that saved New Orleans ! As usual, 
the most formidable enemy he had to contend with was not the 
red dragon of England, but consternation, disaffection, and mutiny 
within. He had first to kindle hope in place of despair, inspire 
honour in place of treachery, infuse a spirit of patriotism in bo- 
soms that thought to surrender their country, rather than sacrifice 
a tithe of their property ; and then out of the crude elements 
around him, create an army to meet the best disciplined troops of 
that warlike age. All this he did. In twenty days, he quelled a 
mutinous and mixed population of French, Spanish, and English, 
that cared nothing for the defence of the country, and held daily 
communication with the enemy — and by the magic of his name, 
brought around him a sufficient number of volunteer troops to strike 
a blow that not only saved New Orleans, but preserved the Union, 
and gave a new impulse to the progress and civilization of mankind. 

The 23d of December, the enemy landed nine miles below New 
Orleans, three thousand strong. Jackson got news of it about noon. 
In a few hours he marched out with fifteen hundred men — Coffee's 
brigade, which had arrived but the night before, and the City Vo- 
lunteers, to meet the foe. In the darkness of the night he fell upon 
the enemy — fell upon him like a flash of lightning, and so stunned 
and scattered his forces that he did not rally in five days. Jackson 
leisurely retired two miles back towards the city, and commenced 
throwing up breastworks along the line of a canal that extended 
from the river to the morass. For five days he laboured day and 
night without rest or intermission — he was here, there, everywhere. 
His master-spirit pervaded every bosom. Despair was flung away. 
Men, women, and children, animated by the light of his counte- 
nance, vied with each other in zeal and exertions. The whole 
city was brought under requisition — horses, carts, wheelbarrows, 
and cotton-bags — did any one complain? Jackson, for answer, 
placed a musket in his hand and bade him, " Go, sir, stand behind 
your cotton-bag, and defend it." While all this work and din of 
preparation was going on, there lay the enemy in si°;ht. For five 
days, with his spy-glasses and keen vision he beheld what was go- 
ing on, and made no effort to prevent it. It was now too late. At 
the end of five days an attempt was made to carry the works, but 
in vain. To turn them was as vain — far out in the morass, on 
floating logs, lay Coffee and his men ready to receive them. At 



garland's eulogy. 199 

length the great and awful day arrived. In three divisions the 
enemy advances. Packenham, Gibbs, and Keen. In that bright 
January morning, Jackson beheld the long column advancing, its 
scarlet and steel glittering in the sunbeams like the scales of a 
crested dragon coming up out of the sea to devour him. Now and 
then a sky-rocket, shot into the air, made wild music with the ele- 
ments. The first ball that passed him, Jackson saluted, "Welcome 
thou first visiter from a British mortar, long have I sought to meet 
you — now is our day of reckoning." Slowly and steadily the long 
column advanced. All was silence behind the parapets; yonder is 
one waving his port-fire in the air to keep it glowing ; yonder is a 
long line with hands on the lock ready for the word ; there stands 
Jackson like Mars' statue, his eyes glaring fire, and his drawn 
sword ready to wave a welcome salute. Presently the air is rent, 
and it rains down on that devoted column hail and fire and brim- 
stone, such as was not known since the days of Sodom — it seemed 
as if earth belched forth thunder, and opened her devouring jaws 
to swallow them. Behold yon long line of glittering scarlet and 
steel — anon, smoke and cries and consternation. 

In that wild revelry they seemed not living men of flesh and 
blood, but the spirits of some departed generation, playing with the 
cannon and the musketry ; none fell, none faltered. That is not 
Jackson gliding like a shadow in the flame and smoke — it is the 
spirit of his father — his murdered brother — it is the spirit of his 
mother coming from her long-lost grave, and wavinsr the death 

O DO* *_> 

torch in frantic joy over the head of her dying murderers. Ah ! 
Packenham, your boots are muddy now, who will clean them? 
Go, Lambert, to the prison-boy of Camden, he will tell you how 
to minister to the wants of the sick, the wounded, and the prisoner ! 
Gibbs can tell how a magnanimous soul can act towards a fallen 
foe — behold him on his dying bed, smilingly take into his arms the 
sword which had been generously returned by the conquering hero! 
We attach no great merit to the fact, that the flash of gunpowder 
and the whiz of bullets had no terrors for Andrew Jackson. There 
were thousands that feared them as little as he did ; while not one 
in a whole generation could be found with his powers of command, 
that fecundity of genius, by which, under the most trying circum- 
stances, he created unforeseen resources — raised, as it were, from 
the ground, hosts of intrepid warriors, and provided every vulner- 
able point with ample means of defence — that instinctive superi- 
ority, self-reliance, and impulsive energy, which at once rallied 
around him universal confidence, impressed one irresistible move- 
ment on all the jarring elements of a mixed population; roused 
their slumbering spirits, and diffused through every rank the noble 
ardour that glowed in his own bosom — that consummate prudence 
which defeated all the combinations of a sagacious enemy — entan- 



200 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

gled them in the very snares they had spread for him, and suc- 
ceeded in effecting their utter destruction, without exposing the 
lives of his own soldiers. These qualities of mind constitute his 
greatness, and not brute courage. 

When the 8th day of January came, the work was done. The 
greatest enemy had been conquered. By his wise plans and indo- 
mitable energy, Jackson had made certain and inevitable the glo- 
rious results of that day. He had already fought the battle and 
won the victory before the day of carnage came. 

But it has been said that there is no great merit in fighting be- 
hind cotton-bags. And some are ungenerous enough to detract 
from that glorious achievement, on the ground that those who 
accomplished it stood in comparative security. Why, then, were 
not the results on the opposite side of the river as brilliant as those 
on the left ? There were like fortifications, and the friends, neigh- 
bours, and companions of those on the left to defend them. No 
difference in the strength of position or the spirit of the men ; yet, 
on the right bank, though opposed by one division only, under 
Lambert, they fled at the first fire — while those on the opposite side 
never flinched from their duty, though they had to meet the whole 
force of the British arm}', led on in three divisions by the most 
renowned generals. Why this difference? On the one side there 
was Jackson to awe into obedience, animate, and direct ; while on 
the other, there was no master-spirit like him to " ride upon the 
whirlwind and direct the storm." All praise, then, is due to the 
great chieftain, who won a victory as brilliant as any recorded in the 
annals of warfare ; as important in its consequences to the present 
and future generations, and to all mankind, as any battle ever fought 
in the tide of time. 

We can no longer dwell on the military achievements of this 
great warrior. We are now called to contemplate his character in 
another sphere of action. Great were his victories in war — still 
greater his triumphs in peace. Crowned with the laurel-wreath 
by virgin hands, in God's temple, at Orleans — he was now called 
to receive the civic crown from the hands of all the people, stand- 
ing on the steps of the altar of freedom, in the capitol of his 
country. Large was his experience, ample his preparation in civil 
as well as military life. In his early youth, for many years he 
was devoted to the study and practice of a profession that brought 
the mind in daily and familiar intercourse with the laws and go- 
vernment of his country. A pioneer among the first settlers of a 
new territory, he saw the birth and developement of the social and 
civil institutions of a free people. At thirty years of age, he was 
the leading statesman of a young republic. His creative mind was 
called on to aid in framing a constitution of government, suited to 
a people of largest liberty — and then to administer its laws in the 



garland's eulogy. 201 

functions of an office of highest trust and responsibility. By his 
powers of thought and independence of character, he exalted the 
judicial station in the minds of a rude people. He whose retire- 
ment from the supreme bench was opposed by the best men of his 
state, must have possessed rare qualities as a judge. 

Long in retirement, devoted to rural occupations, disconnected 
from the strife of party politics, and in familiar intercourse with 
the sons of those pioneers who had conquered a rude wilderness to 
the hand of cultivation, he learned to value the strong sense of 
freedom, the bold intellect and hardy virtues of an agricultural 
people, and to perceive that the perpetuity of our free institutions 
depends on the continuance of their virtue and intelligence. With 
such associations and such habits of mind, he could not fail to in- 
terpret the constitution in the sense of the great apostle of liberty, 
as an instrument of limited powers, reserving to the states and to 
the people many of the most important attributes of sovereignty. 
Dwelling among an enlightened people, with few wants, and requir- 
ing but few restraints — having a constitution and laws of their own 
adequate to their purpose and faithfully administered, he could not 
perceive the necessity or the justice of conferring all powers on a 
central government, remote from observation, in the hands of men 
opposed to him in interest, alien in feeling, and over whom he and 
his people could exert but a limited control. Such thoughts natu- 
rally suggested themselves to the unbiassed mind of Andrew Jackson; 
and* he who despised shams, and sought and loved the truth for her 
own sake, could not fail to embrace them. With large experience, 
and ample preparation, in mature old age and full of honours, 
Andrew Jackson ascended the steps of the capitol as president of 
the United States, forty years after the foundation of the republic, 
and took the oath to support the constitution. This was no un- 
unmeaning ceremony with him. He solemnly purposed to support 
the constitution as it came from the hands of Washington and his 
compeers, and none other. Whatever a plain, honest, common- 
sense interpretation of its words could be made to mean, that was 
the constitution he intended to abide by and enforce. Those pow- 
ers of intellect and that independence of mind so conspicuous in 
his earlier days, had never forsaken him. He was not the man to 
yield to authority against his own judgment, or surrender the so- 
lemn convictions of his mind to the plea of necessity. 

The interpolation of forty years' legislation, though sanctioned 
by judicial authority and great names, had no weight with him 
against the plain reading of the constitution. After having encoun- 
tered so many difficulties, and fronted so many dangers, through a 
Long and eventful life, he was not now to be deterred by any con- 
sideration, from the discharge of his duty. Having filled the mea- 
sure of his country's glory, and leaning with his arm on eternity, 



202 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

he had nothing more to ask. But with a popularity, a weight of 
character and an influence unknown since the da}*s of Washington, 
he stood by the altar of the constitution, and offered it all as a sacri- 
fice to his country. Thousands have condemned him, but none 
have charged him with selfishness or a sinister motive. Coming 
into the administration with a determination of bringing: back the 
government to the simple meaning of the constitution, confining its 
action to a few general powers, and leaving all the rest to the states 
and to the people, he resolved to accomplish it or perish in the 
ruins. This, his greatest task, he did accomplish, as he always 
accomplished everything he undertook, gallantly, nobly, perfectly. 

The first great measure of his administration was to put an end 
to a system of internal improvements which had been commenced 
hy the federal government, and was rapidly growing up into a mag- 
nificent scheme of fraud, speculation, and expenditure, far surpass- 
ing the South Sea, or Mississippi scheme, that engulphed all Europe 
in bankruptcy and ruin. 

All are now satisfied that the construction of roads and canals, 
and other means of intercommunication, properly belongs to the 
states. They are better acquainted with their own resources, and 
can conduct the means of their developement more economically, 
more judiciously, and extensively. And if they, in the prosecution 
of their plans, for the last fifteen or twenty years, have involved 
themselves in so large a debt, and suffered so much from fraudulent 
legislation as to be driven, some to the necessity of repudiation, 
others to the verge of bankruptcy, what would have been the con- 
dition of the whole Union had they continued those plans so zeal- 
ously commenced, and entered on the prosecution of those magnifi- 
cent surveys which their engineers had reported as practicable, ne- 
cessary, and proper ? The states ceasing to be sovereign and inde- 
pendent — ceasing to act as a counter-weight to the neutralizing in- 
fluence of the federal government, would have been clamorous sup- 
pliants of its bounty — fraudulent combinations would have carried 
everything in the national legislature — some of the states would 
have had large improvements conducted through their borders, while 
others would have had none ; and all would have been loaded with a 
debt only surpassed by the crushing burthen of England. Resort- 
ing to that tribunal power intrusted to the executive, not only for 
the preservation of its own independence and dignity, but for the 
protection of the rights reserved to the states and the people, An- 
drew Jackson, by a single exercise of its authority, arrested the 
centralizing tendency of the republic, and saved his country from 
ruin. 

When Jackson took in his hand the helm of state, the Bank of 
the United States was in the plenitude of its power — its numerous 
branches, in close affiliation and absolute dependence on a central 



garland's eulogy. 203 

power, occupied the most important and commanding positions. 
Its influence over the currency and the commercial operations of 
the country was unbounded : it could make or unmake ; build up 
or destroy, at pleasure. Its directory, seated in their marble palace 
at Philadelphia, like the gods on Olympus, could make rain or sun- 
shine, as it pleased their sovereign will. Even the representatives 
of the people, sent to examine into the abominations and sorceries 
of this red harlot, were dazzled with her brightness. They bowed 
obsequiously before her golden altars, and returned rejoicing, and 
told the people that she was not only pure, but worthy of all trust 
and confidence. No greater combination of power ever existed 
under any government. The East India Company, that held an 
empire under its sway, and burthened the seas with its treasures, 
could not boast of greater authority. To have possession of the 
money influence in a commercial country, is to control its move- 
ments in the remotest ramifications of society. It is holding levia- 
than with a hook. This power, all-pervading and absolute, was 
unquestionably held by the Bank of the United States. 

Against this formidable institution, Jackson stood up and battled 
alone. In his reading of the constitution there was no authority for 
it — to his observation and experience the existence of such a power 
was dangerous to a free republic. Satisfied in his mind that the 
Bank of the United States was both unconstitutional and inexpedient, 
it was vain to remonstrate. It was vain to tell him that Wash- 
ington had sanctioned it — he had as clear a judgment, as pure 
a patriotism, as Washington. It was vain to tell him that good 
and wise men, yielding to the cry of distress, had for the second time 
established a bank — and that Madison, surrendering his own judg- 
ment to precedence and authority, had approved it. No such dis- 
tress existed now — no such plea of necessity could be urged. Now 
was the time, in profound peace, to apply the knife and the cautery, 
to cut out and destroy the cancer that was threatening to consume 
the constitution of the country. 

Deserted by all his friends, as he had been on many trying oc- 
casions before while a military chieftain, he was left alone to rely 
on his own clear judgment and unshaken fortitude. 

When he vetoed the Bank Bill, and caused the public money to be 
removed from its custody, his friends earnestly entreated him not 
to do it. You will ruin us, general — you will destroy your part}'. 
We cannot stand against the tempest that will be raised against us. 
He stood unmoved. They might tear down the marble pillars of 
the Capitol, and bury him beneath the ruins, but they could not 
shake him from his purpose. Calmly he did what duty required, 
and left the rest to Heaven. Many think he was wrong. God for- 
bid that they, against their consciences, should think otherwise ! This 
is a free country, where thoughts. and words to utter them, are like 



204- 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



the air we breathe. Andrew Jackson would be the last man to 
suppress the freedom of opinion. The indignant boy who remon- 
strated with the minions of a tyrant, and the hero, who, in mature 
life, hurled consternation and destruction on the presumptuous in- 
vaders of a land of freemen, would be the last man to suppress the 
free utterance of thoughts that might condemn even his acts as op- 
pressive and t}'rannical. Neither we who approve of that measure, 
nor those that condemn it, can be impartial judges. Too much of 
the prejudice and selfish interests of the times still linger about our 
feelings, and obscure our judgments. Posterity alone can judge of 
its importance. Leave it to them — they will pronounce it one of 
the greatest of the great acts of Andrew Jackson's life. 

But another deed, still greater if possible, had yet to be performed 
by Andrew Jackson, before he could rescue the government from 
its centripetal tendency, and restore those features of a federative 
republic which, in the vicissitudes of forty years, had well-nigh 
been effaced. A tariff" of duties, onerous to the agricultural in- 
terests, and laid solely for the protection and bounty of other interests, 
had been imposed. The protective policy was distinctly recognized 
and established, and proclaimed to be as jtxed as fate. But the 
principle of protection was regarded by the school of politicians to 
which Jackson belonged as an unwarrantable abuse of constitutional 
power, if not plainly unconstitutional. Thus impressed, he was 
hastening rapidly to reduce the tariff to the revenue standard. But 
one of the states of the confederacy, believing that the doctrine of 
protection, just as the doctrine of a right to tax the colonies, had 
not been surrendered, proclaimed that the only safety of the re- 
public lay in state interposition. Our fathers did not complain 
of the burthen of their taxes, but contended against the right of 
taxation without representation. South Carolina did not merely 
complain of the onerous nature of the tariff" system ; but protested 
against the principles in which it was founded, and declared her 
determination not to obey any law, however moderate in its details, 
that recognized the unconstitutional principle of protection. Feel- 
ing herself aggrieved, and having appealed, as she thought in vain 
for redress, she took the remedy of her wrongs in her own hands. 
God forbid that the time should ever come, when any one of these 
sovereign states should be afraid to say that this or that law is un- 
constitutional ! and so saying, should be afraid to act. The only 
conservative power of this confederative republic, is in the states. 
What matters it how nicely adjusted may be the balance of power 
between the executive, legislative, and judicial departments at 
Washington, when they have swallowed up all the powers that 
were reserved to the states and to the people? Take away the rights 
of Virginia, and what security have we for our liberties? We 
should no longer be a federative republic of sovereign states, but 



garland's eulogy. 205 

the miserable, degraded provinces of a magnificent empire. Vir- 
ginia would be recreant to her trust, and unworthy of the venera- 
tion of her sons, did she not stand by those invaluable rights that 
have been reserved to her and to her people. This is what South 
Carolina did — no more. She proclaimed in her solemn assemblies, 
that the principle of protection was not only ruinous to her interests, 
but as plainly unconstitutional as the right claimed by the British 
parliament to tax the colonies without their consent ; and declared 
her resolution to refuse obedience to such a law. In my judgment 
she was too hasty — too soon distrusted the sincerity of those who 
co-operated with her. But with that we have nothing to do. She 
thought otherwise ; and so thinking, had a right to act as she did. 
But, as I conceive, she placed on wrong grounds a right action. 
Whenever a state shall be driven to the necessity of refusing to 
obey a law of the Union, she, as a sovereignty, has a right to do so 
without being treated as a rebellious province, but on the other 
hand, the government of the Union has an equal right to enforce 
her obedience. This implies a trial of strength — an issue of arms 
— and that alternative which involves a state and her co-states in 
war with each other, can neither be peaceful, nor constitutional. 

While South Carolina was trying the experiment of state inter- 
position as a remedy for her wrongs ; Jackson, as President of the 
United States, was bound to see that the laws were faithfully exe- 
cuted. However much he might disapprove of their character, or 
sympathize with those on whose shoulders they fell as a grievous 
burden, so long as they were laws, he was bound to see them en- 
forced. A sovereign state, by her ordinances, declared her resolu- 
tion to violate the law. He, as promptly, by his proclamation, de- 
clared that the law should be enforced, and the Union preserved. 
This was an awful moment to the republic. The most important 
experiments in the history of government had to be tried. The 
liberties of mankind were staked on the result. The trial had to 
be made, whether state sovereignty was of any avail, or the federal 
government absolute and omnipotent. Had South Carolina failed, 
we should have gone down like the Roman republic into a consoli- 
dated empire, with all the power centred in the Capitol, governed 
by venality and corruption. Had Jackson failed, the fraternal bonds 
of this Union would have been dissolved, and we should have ex- 
isted for a time as petty states in perpetual warfare, until we again 
fell as exhausted provinces into the hands of European power. 
Where so much was at stake, we should rejoice at the glorious 
result. 

South Carolina acted well — so did Jackson — neither flinched 

from the line of duty they had laid down for themselves — neither 

gave way. In this awful moment, when disrupture and civil war 

seemed inevitable, that magnanimous spirit of compromise in which 

IS 



206 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



the constitution was framed, a°-ain rescued it from destruction. 
And so will it ever be while the states have courage and indepen- 
dence to assert their rights, and patriot souls like Jackson shall guide 
the helm of affairs. 

Having accomplished the work of reformation to which he was 
called, he cheerfully laid aside the robes of state, which he had 
worn so well, and retired to those peaceful shades of the Cumber- 
land, where his earlier years of manhood had been enjoyed, and the 
last hours of old age were to be spent. 

We have seen the hero in his field of glory — we have followed 
the statesman step by step, in his arduous task of reformation ; let 
us now for a moment contemplate the man — the human being of 
like passions with ourselves. What made him great ? What vir- 
tues did he possess — what qualities greater than other men? He 
had a fiery heart ! What gives to the engine, that draws its long 
and ponderous burthen, such wondrous power ? Tear away those 
ribs of steel, and you behold a heart of fire — burning, glowing fire. 
From that fiery heart comes the wondrous power that excites the 
awe and admiration of the beholder. Jackson, underneath those 
ribs of flesh, had a fiery heart that nothing could quench — nothing 
obscure. The deep, earnest enthusiasm he possessed, springing up 
from this fiery heart, was the source of all his greatness. The cold, 
the timid, and the plodding spirit, may follow on in well-known 
paths, but a fiery soul, like Jackson's, fearless, intuitive, bold, and 
trustful, must lead the way through untried and perilous scenes. It 
is the heart that inspires the intellect. Its warm and instinctive 
impulses are more to be trusted than the cold inductions of the un- 
derstanding. Man lives and is governed by love. The heart sees 
farther than the head. In its deep and silent revelations — flashes, 
as it were, from another world — Jackson was made conscious that 
he was an instrument in the hands of Providence — a being conse- 
crated for a great purpose. Tell me not of his wickedness! The 
fiery passions of his heart, the source of all his greatness, may have 
led him astray; I seek not to palliate his faults. Remember David. 
If God wrought out history, as it has been recorded, for our instruc- 
tion, in his sacred volume — if he wrought by the hands of Moses, 
and Joshua, and Samuel, and David — if Cyrus the Persian was an 
instrument of his will — if Mahomet the false prophet ; Genseric, 
and Attila, and Napoleon, the .scourges of wicked nations, found 
their types foreshadowed in the visions of the prophet — if the 
might)' men who have risen up from age to age, and wrought out 
the history of the times in which they lived, were not the children 
of accident, the sons of a blind fatality — then, I fear not to say, 
that Andrew Jackson was an instrument, in the hands of God, to 
work out his purposes among the children of men. The history 
of the age and country in which he lived, is the history of him- 



garland's eulogy. 207 

self. Such as it is, he made it. The stamp and impress of his 
genius are upon it. Time cannnot efface — eternity will never 
alter it. 

Jackson was early made conscious that he was an instrument, in 
the hands of God, tor some great and wise purpose. Often did he 
slumber in forgetfulness — often fall astray, and grievously err, as it 
is recorded for our instruction, of men of old. But never could he 
tear himself away from that guiding hand, never silence the admo- 
nitions of his heart, which ever whispered, "Remember thou art 
a child of destiny." 

On the field of battle, in that glorious day when he swept the 
enemy from before him like a whirlwind, he proclaimed to his 
conquering soldiers, " Let us be grateful to the God of battles, who 
has directed the arrows of his indignation against our invaders, 
while he covered with his protecting shield the brave defenders of 
their country." When the enemy were no longer to be found in 
our borders, he appointed a day of thanksgiving and solemn praise 
for our deliverance. The war-worn veteran, surrounded by his 
victorious troops, was seen prostrate before the altar of adoration, 
offering to the God of battles that glory which the world had bt- 
stowed on him. 

Go with me to the banks of the Coosa. It is midnight. The 
white tents lie still and shadow-like in the dark forest. The weary 
soldiers have all retired to their rest. Nothing stirs but the drowsy 
sentinel, as he walks his allotted round. Follow me to the centre 
of the encampment — turn aside the curtains of that tent, with the 
dim lamp glimmering through its folds. Behold the commander- 
in-chief on bended knees, with the Bible out-spread before him — 
the picture of his beloved wife on one side, and his sword on the 
other. This may be a scene of imagination. I would fain hope it 
were true. So like the chivalric and knightly Christian of old. 
The deep enthusiasm and trustful soul of Andrew Jackson give me 
an assurance it was true. If not of the warrior in the pride of 
victory, I know it was true of the aged and venerable statesman. 
While chief magistrate of the Union — seated in the marble palace 
of the nation — the idol of fifteen millions of freemen — surrounded 
with splendour, possessed of power, this venerable man might be 
seen in his secret chamber, on his bended knees, with the Bible 
out-spread before him, and the picture of his beloved and recently- 
departed wife on one side — but on the other no sword was to be 
found. Having vindicated the honour of his country, and secured 
its independence, that sword was treasured up, to be placed in the 
hands of some future hero, who, inspired by great examples, ".shall 
conduct himself most worthy of his country." 

Jackson's was a martyr spirit. The deep enthusiasm and bet e- 
volence of his heart, inspired him with a noble zeal for the good 



208 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

of his country and mankind. Ready at all times to make a sacrifice 
of himself, he could not live for selfish ends. In every hour of 
peril, when life was to be hazarded, so promptly, so freely, and 
without reservation did he make the offering, that God, as he did 
the hand of Abraham, turned aside the impending sword, and let 
the willing victim escape. On all those trying occasions of his life, 
when escape seemed to be a miracle, Jackson did not fail humbly 
to acknowledge the hand of God in his deliverance. 

Were these demonstrations of piety made to be seen of men ? 
Who will accuse him of hypocrisy ! Who can point to an act of 
his life that is tainted with insincerity ? He was too earnest, too 
fearless, to be other than an honest man. He was sincere in all 
his dealings with himself, with his fellow-men, and with his God. 
Whatever he did, he did with all his heart. Did he in secret pore 
over the pages of that book we call the Bible'? it was because he 
believed it the inspired word of God. 

Did he bow the knee in prayer ? it was because he believed there 
was a superintending Providence that lent a listening ear to the 
voice of supplication. Did he take upon his lips the bread and 
wine as symbols of the broken body and shed blood of Christ ? it 
was because in his heart he believed that Christ was God clothed 
in humanity, that he might suffer and die, and open up a way of 
salvation to the fallen human race. Simple was his faith and sin- 
cere. Whatever he professed, he believed ; whatever he believed, 
he practised. 

But let us hasten on to the closing scene — the last hours of this 
great man. That courage which battle could not intimidate — that 
fortitude which civil commotions could not shake, have now to be 
tried in another scene. The frame, that not fatigue, nor exposure, 
nor hunger could bend, worn by age and disease, is now bending 
over the grave. Time has wrought its ends, and he is ripe for im- 
mortality. Behold the man, who has served his country, and served 
his God. He has no fears, no misgivings : calmly he looks back 
on a well spent life, joyfully reaches forward with hope, to a bliss- 
ful immortality. 

When asked by a friend, " what course would he pursue, were 
he permitted to live his life over again" — with a majestic tone of 
voice, says that friend, he calmly, but emphatically replied, " Si?-, 
I mould not accept the boon if it were offered me." His whole 
countenance, continues that friend, became suddenly illuminated ; 
his keen piercing eye fixed or> vacancy, appeared to be contem- 
plating the beautiful scenes of a distant world, as they gradually 
developed themselves to his view. Delightful thought! Behold- 
ing with the eye of faith the beautiful fields, the radiant beings, 
and the never-clouded sun of that spiritual world to which he is 



garland's eulogy. 209 

hastening, he would not exchange the prospect and the hope of its 
enjoyment, for another glorious life like his here on earth. Hea- 
ven grant, that in the dying hour my faith may be like his ! 

It is a beautiful summer morning! the eighth day of June. Si- 
lence reigns all around, while anxious countenances behold the 
death-stricken face of the dying sage. Recovering from his swoon, 
and propped up in his arm-chair, with his family all around him, 
he said, " My dear children, do not grieve for me ; it is true I am 
going to leave you ; I am well aware of my situation ; I have suf- 
fered much bodily pain ; but my sufferings are as nothing, com- 
pared with that which our blessed Saviour endured upon that ac- 
cursed cross, that we might all be saved who put their trust in 
him." He then took them by the hand, one by one, and express- 
ing some words of tenderness to each, bade them farewell. The 
little children he had brought to him, his grandchildren, and the 
children of his wife's sister ; those who were absent at Sabbath- 
school, he had them sent for. He then kissed them and blessed 
them in a manner so touchingly impressive, that language cannot 
describe it. Seeing his servants anxiously pressing about the doors 
and windows of his chamber, that they might behold for the last 
time his living countenance, he took leave of them also. He then 
spoke for half an hour, and apparently with the power of inspira- 
tion; for he spoke with calmness, with strength, and with anima- 
tion. His implicit belief in the Christian religion, and in the plan 
of salvation as revealed in the Bible — his great anxiety that they 
should believe in religion, as taught by the Holy Scriptures ; and 
that, in so doing, they might insure their eternal salvation, and join 
him in heaven — made the words that fell from his lips deeply im- 
pressive, awfully sublime. In conclusion, he said, "My dear 
children and friends and servants, I hope and trust to meet you all 
in heaven, both white and black." Looking with tender solicitude 
on his servants, he repeated, " both white and black.'''' These were 
his last words. With these he ceased to speak. The body calmly 
sunk into the arms of death, while the immortal spirit, clothed in 
celestial garments, rose triumphant over death and the grave, and 
ascended, amid a choir of shouting angels, into the Paradise above. 
Ministers may preach, divines may write, but the dying example 
of such a man is worth more than they all. Were I inclined to 
scepticism, and God knows I am too much given to its folly, the 
dying testimony of such a man, whose matchless courage feared 
not death, whose intuitive mind, piercing the shadows of time, be- 
held truth as it were with the eye of inspiration, would go far to 
remove it. 

Thus lived, thus died Andrew Jackson : great in war, great in 
peace, triumphant in death. 
18* 



210 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Washington was the father of his country. Jackson its defender 
and saviour. Neither having natural children of their own, they 
embrace the whole country in the arms of their affection. Out of 
thirteen scattered, divided, and feeble colonies, Washington, by his 
valour and fortitude, made a united and prosperous republic. Called 
to the administration of its affairs in its infancy, at a time when 
the monarchies of the old world were overturned, and the social 
institutions of civilized life were torn up from their ancient foun- 
dations, he had a difficult and a perilous task to perform. With an 
unsullied reputation, unbounded popularity, and the entire confi- 
dence of all the people, he had now to throw himself into the 
whirlpool of party strife, whence he could not hope to escape un- 
injured. Amid the excited passions, prejudices, contlicting inte- 
rests, and opposing opinions of those revolutionary times, he did 
many things that were condemned — many that excited inveterate 
hostility. He left the government with a large portion, if not a 
majority of his countrymen opposed to the measures of his admi- 
nistration. But Washington died. All the men of that generation 
have been gathered to their fathers. The passions, the prejudices, 
and the interests that divided them, have all perished and been for- 
gotten — and now the character of Washington, before a new gene- 
ration, rises up in unclouded majesty, serene and god-like, receiving 
the homage of all hearts — his countrymen, and all mankind. 

The tyrant from whose grasp Washington plucked this young 
republic was driven from our shores, but not conquered. He sought 
once more to lay hold on his ancient colonies. For their subjuga- 
tion, he landed the best appointed army of modern times — the con- 
querors of the conqueror of Europe — on the banks of the Missis- 
sippi. But while dreaming in his tent of an easy and undisputed 
conquest, Jackson, like a stroke of lightning, fell upon him, scat- 
tered his forces, and drove them in consternation and disgrace from 
our indignant borders. 

What Washington began, Jackson finished ; and, by universal 
acclamation, was hailed the saviour of his country. But he was 
not allowed to wear in peace, the laurels he had so nobly won. 
He, too, was called to administer the affairs of government; and 
to mingle in the strife and conflicting interests of party. He, too, 
as we have already seen, did many things to excite opposition — 
many to awaken the bitterest hostility ; and he left the government 
with a large portion of his countrymen opposed to the measures of 
his administration. 

But Jackson has died. All the men of his generation, with their 
passions, their prejudices, and their conflicting interests, will soon 
pass away, perish, and be forgotten ; then will the character of Jack- 
son stand forth in its just proportions; and posterity, without re- 



garland's eulogy. 211 

servation or condition, will pronounce him second only to Washing- 
ton in the hearts of his countrymen. And they two, like twin 
stars in the firmament, undistinguished, undivided, will shine on 
from age to age, shedding a glorious lustre on their country, and a 
benign influence on the glad hearts of millions of freemen, spread 
from the St. John's to the Del Norte, from the Atlantic to the Pa- 
cific ocean. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT LOWELL, MASS., JULY 15, 1845. 



BY 



JOHN A. BOLLES, Esq, 



•^ ^~^s^-*^s\s\s \> \s^s \s~v \s \x\. 



Once more, and for the fourth time in the history of our country, 
the whole American people are mourners. The death of Washing- 
ton was the occasion of our first great national sorrow. Our tears 
were again shed upon that grave which covered at once the remains 
of Adams and Jefferson. And when we heard that La Fayette had 
also passed away, we gathered a third time together with universal 
lamentation. 

Once more are we called upon to notice, with becoming solemnity, 
the departure from our midst of one who had established himself in 
the American heart beyond all living example, and whose life we 
had learned, as a people, to regard as among our choicest national 
treasures. 

It is right, it is manly, it is every way well to gather in this 
manner around the tomb of the illustrious dead : — not merely to 
gratify those generous instincts of humanity which call forth tears 
for departed friends; not merely that we may give form and utter- 
ance to emotions which clamour for expression, and will not be sup- 
pressed ; not merely from regard to the dead, whom we will not let 
go down, uncommemorated, to everlasting silence; but for the sake 
of the living also, that we may ourselves become the wiser, the 
braver, the better, by communing together on our bereavement ; by 
recalling the generous sentiments and noble deeds of the departed ; 
by contemplating and holding up to imitation the example of a 
life well spent, and of a death rich with instruction. In the house 
of mourning, our passions and prejudices subside before the majesty 
of death : and we are ready to appreciate and acknowledge the 
wisdom and the patriotism of those whom we may, while living, 
have overlooked or misjudged. 

When, therefore, an eminent public officer, or an illustrious pri- 
vate citizen, is cut down by death, it is, ordinarily, deemed both 

Cil2) 



BOLLES's EULOGY. 213 

proper and expedient for our municipal corporations, our constitu- 
ted authorities and tribunals, to notice the event as a national 
calamity — to commemorate the virtues of the deceased — and bear 
living testimony to the world at large, that the general heart is not 
insensible to the general bereavement, nor dead to the claims of 
distinguished merit. 

In pursuance of this time-honoured custom, acting upon the im- 
pulse of an affection which we deeply feel and glory to make 
known, we are here to-night, to offer our tribute of respect to the 
name and memory of Andrew Jackson : — a name, how widely known 
and world-admired ! a name, how familiar and how dear to all living 
freemen ! a name, that awakens echoes and arouses recollections, 
and kindles emotions, how warmly, how eloquently, in our hearts! 

But assembled as we are, on an errand of sorrow, our sadness is 
not unmingled with a livelier feeling and a more cheerful spirit. 
Our Jackson is dead, indeed, and we mourn for him! But how 
little, after all, of such a man can die ! The spirit of the fallen 
hero — the fire that warmed his breast — the love of liberty. — the love 
of country — cannot die ! Transmitted from sire to son, immortal 
in its nature, it passes unchanged through a hundred generations! 

Can we wholly abandon ourselves to sorrow, when we recollect 
at how ripe an age, and after what a life of great and stirring events, 
he has left us at last the glory of his example? His life may have 
'come to an end ; but its influence is undying ! The lips that have 
spoken are silent : but his words of inspiration shall live and echo 
for ever ! His generous heart has ceased to beat : but its ruling 
spirit has moved the pulses of countless other hearts, and the elec- 
tric impulse shall thrill through all coming generations ! 

We must, then, indulge but a qualified sorrow, while we remem- 
ber how perfectly the great man, whose death we mourn, had ac- 
complished all the great ends of life : — how deeply he inscribed his 
name and memory on the history of his country, and on the hearts 
of his countrymen : — how certainly he has transmitted the glory of 
his name to the admiration of posterity : — and how, at last, in the 
fulness of years and of honours — supported by Christian hope, exult- 
ing in Christian faith, he laid down the burden of human existence, 
and soared aloft to the glories of immortality! 

Peace be unto the illustrious dead ! After a life so glorious, and 
a death so happy, we would not, if we could, awaken the hero from 
his final repose. Be it rather our task to rekindle the ardour of 
our patriotism at the altar of his example, and encourage ourselves, 
and our children, by the recollection of his virtues. He has left 
no children to divide the heritage of his glory : — to his country, 
therefore, belongs the whole of that splendid inheritance ! 

The life of Andrew Jackson, though, like all others of our race, 
he was subject to human imperfection, is rich with instruction and 



214 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

full of encouragement to every true lover of liberty, or of well- 
earned praise. 

His origin was humble ; and the poorest may learn from his 
career, that poverty is no insuperable bar to the soarings and* 
triumphs of the free spirit. Nay ! Let us rather say, as we re- 
member how the soil of poverty has sent up its harvest of great 
men — our Franklin, our Adams, our Henry, and our Jackson ; let 
us rather say, that, as in the kingdom of geology the everlasting 
granite, the underlying basis of all other formations, is found in the 
deepest gulf, yet ever bursting upward from the abyss, towering 
aloft into highest hills, and crowning the very pinnacles of the 
world; so in the kingdom of man, the primitive rock, the granite 
formation, is poverty ; found deepest in the abyss, borne down, bu- 
ried thousand-fathom deep, overlaid, crushed to the very centre, 
yet everywhere forcing its way upward, towering aloft and claim- 
ing kindred with the sky ! 

The parents of General Jackson were natives of Ireland, though 
of Scottish descent. Weary of that English misrule under which 
Ireland has so long groaned and bled, and which has driven so 
many, with hearts panting for freedom, to American shores, they 
emigrated to this country and settled in South Carolina in 1765, ten 
years before our new-born freedom was baptized in blood at Con- 
cord and Bunker Hill. Two sons came with them. Andrew was 
born in March, 1767, two years after their arrival. His father died 
about that time, and bequeathed his name to that youngest, sorrow- 
born child. His widowed mother pressed this nursling legacy to 
her breast with the same strange mixture of joy and sorrow that 
agitates our hearts to-night. Oh, could she have foreseen to what 
bright destiny this child of her mourning should attain, how would 
her saddened heart have leaped for joy ! Let every mother through- 
out our land, from what quarter soever of the wide world of tyranny 
she may have fled to our shores, as she " clips her baby to her 
bosom," remember that it may be her happy fortune in him to fur- 
nish another patriot general, or president, to the country that she 
loves ! 

Andrew Jackson was nine years old when the continental Con- 
gress proclaimed to an admiring world that " these United Colo- 
nies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states!" 
At the age of but thirteen he set the seal of his own blood to his 
personal efforts in vindicating for his country the freedom thus 
manfully declared. His mother would have educated him for the 
special service of God as a preacher. But when the storm of war 
swept over Carolina, and reached their quiet village of Waxhaw, 
in 1779, young Jackson was driven from his Latin and Greek, to 
behold the horrors of warfare in the mangled bodies of his neigh- 
bours murdered in cold blood by Tarleton's ferocious dragoons, and 



BOLLES's EULOGY. 215 

collected as in a hospital, in that very village church from whose 
pulpit his mother had hoped to hear him proclaiming the gospel of 
peace. That memorable year beheld this same Irish widow, with 
American heart, surrendering, with cheerful spirit, her oldest son, 
to fight the battles of her adopted land! The son thus dedicated 
to his adopted country perished, that very year, on the field of bat- 
tle. A few years later, and another of her boys was added to the 
number of those brave Irish hearts, whose blood has fertilized our 
soil, and whose dying breath has swelled the breeze of freedom. 

From 1779 to the close of the Revolution, South Carolina en- 
dured all the horrors of both foreign and domestic war ;. the ordi- 
nary evils of invasion being unspeakably aggravated by those fierce 
party strifes which rent asunder the ties of friendship and family, 
converting love into hatred, and hardening into ferocity the ten- 
derest affections of the heart. It was within this dreadful region 
of peril and treachery, of fire and sword, of fraud and force, of 
rapine and robbery, of midnight burnings and murders, that the 
Jackson family, — the widow and her boys, — endeavoured to de- 
fend, as they might, the humble hearth which they called their 
home. In those days, and in that vicinity, childhood was deprived 
of its sweet immunities, and every boy who was large enough to 
lift a musket, like Robert and Andrew Jackson, was taught to ride 
and fire, — was furnished with horse and gun, and took his part in 
the midnight watch and the midday fight. 

Such was the active training to war of the future hero of New 
Orleans ; and at this early age he displayed the same vehement 
energy, the same unyielding firmness, the same clearness of thought 
and prompt decision in action, that in after life marked him out as 
the great captain and commander. 

The insolence of British officers, and the horrors of captivity, 
were alike unable to bend or to break his inflexible resolution. He 
was taken captive by a party of marauders, whose officer ordered 
him to perform some menial service. The indignant boy refused, 
and claimed to be treated as a prisoner of war. Enraged by his 
answer, the cowardly officer aimed a sabre-cut at his head — Jack- 
son received the blow upon his left arm, and the scar of it remained 
through life, to remind him of his obligations to England. 

Ransomed from a horrible imprisonment by the efforts of his 
noble mother, he returned home, smitten with the small-pox, to 
witness the death of his only brother, and to hear that she who had 
rescued him from captivity, had died by the way-side, among 
strangers, in bearing her generous aid to others in confinement. 
The burial-place of the mother of Jackson is unknown ; not a stone 
has ever marked the spot of her final repose. But her memory is 
green in ever}- American heart, — her monument is the life of her 
heroic son. 



216 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Young Jackson is now an orphan — alone in the world at the age 
of fifteen — cast out upon the wilderness of life, with little be- 
sides his own free spirit and the good providence of God to sustain 
him. Who will dare prophesy that this solitary child shall one 
day become the foremost man in all the land ? 

What a school of trial and of suffering had he been through ! 
Can we not discern, in this rough discipline, the creative cause of 
that hardy energy, that unfailing self-reliance, that passionate love 
of liberty, that undying hatred of English tyranny, which marked 
his after life? How ought we, then, to reverence that fruitful 
nursery of great and good men — of great discoverers, of great 
commanders, of heroic minds, of true heroism — the school of po- 
verty, of trial, of suffering! The leaders of the world have gra- 
duated in that stern seminary, as the conquerors of imperial Rome 
were trained amidst the rigours of the frozen north ! 

In the history of young Jackson from 1782 to 1784, we find ad- 
ditional instruction. It was his period, and his only period, of 
levity, of idleness, of pleasure, and of dissipation. But it was ex- 
ceedingly brief — he parted from it like Hercules from the distaff 
of Omphale. By his own voluntary act, impelled by his own un- 
aided, masculine good sense, he casts off his idle habits, abandons 
his gay associates, removes to North Carolina, and with all the 
ardour of his character devotes himself to the study of the law. 
His zeal, his talent, his extraordinary qualities, attract attention, 
secure him numerous and influential friends, and force open the 
doors of reluctant fortune. After two years' study he is admitted 
to the bar, and at the age of twenty-one the governor of North 
Carolina appoints him solicitor of that portion of the state which 
included the territory of Tennessee. 

We comfortable travellers upon the iron roads of the north can 
have very little notion of the experience of a prosecuting officer 
whose district spread from one settlement to another across a wil- 
derness of more than two hundred miles — the mountain fastnesses 
of the Alleghanies — where bloodthirsty savages, and white men 
almost as lawless, were still fighting for the mastery. Tvvo-and- 
twenty times did Andrew Jackson, the young lawyer, cross this 
wild route, in western style, on horseback — a loaded rifle on his 
shoulder, a blanket for his bed, a bundle of law-papers in one 
pocket, his ammunition in the other — kindling his own fire from a 
tinder-box, roasting his bacon or his venison on a forked stick — a 
buffalo trace for his road, or a trackless forest crossed by torrents 
whose wild waters no bridge ever spanned — every thicket likely 
to harbour a scalp-hunting Creek or Chickasaw, every cabin likely 
to conceal some desperado to whom the officer of the law was an 
object more hateful than Indian warriors or wild beasts. 

But these inevitable dangers and labours were not enough to fill 



BOLLES'S EULOGY. 217 

the measure of his enterprise. Not a party of emigrants can ap- 
proach this western region, but young Jackson is the foremost volun- 
teer to protect them and their families along their perilous track, 
and teach them to repeat his name with eternal gratitude. Not an 
Indian party is known to be abroad, but Andrew Jackson is upon 
their trail — fleet of foot, keen of scent and sight, crafty in counsel, 
sharp and terrible in action. The red man learns the terror of his 
wrath, and in the simple dialect of the tribe describes him as " the 
sharp knife" and " the pointed arrow," as his soldiers in later 
times, admiring his power of endurance, loved to call him " Old 
Hickory." 

The professional activity and fidelity of Jackson create him ene- 
mies as well as friends. The Cumberland settlements are crowded 
with delinquent debtors. In all that region there is but a single 
lawyer, and he has been secured to their interest. There is no 
legal aid for anxious creditors until the arrival of Andrew Jackson. 
On his arrival the creditors swarm about him ; on that day he issues 
seventy writs at Nashville. The debtors are alarmed and enraged; 
they resolve to frighten or destroy him. But he will not consent 
to be intimidated or assassinated. He laughs at their threats : he 
repels their violence with a courage that crushes alike their hopes 
and their endeavours. His spirit is aroused. He did not purpose 
to remain at Nashville, but now he will not go ; henceforth he re- 
mains in their midst ; Nashville shall be his home ; the laws shall 
be enforced ! Thus does the fiery furnace reveal the genuine gold, 
and harden the genuine steel. Thus is Jackson established at 
Nashville ; and the spot of his early trials and triumphs, consecrated 
by a long life of glory, and a happy death, has now become another 
Mount Vernon, towards which, in all after time, shall be turned 
the footsteps of the lovers of freedom. 

Meantime, Jackson, in the midst of his perils and his labours, his 
arguing and fighting, becomes a married man, under circumstances 
romantic to the highest degree, but honourable in every way to his 
purity of principle and tenderness of heart. Both he and his wife 
have been slandered by his political foes; but time and truth have 
refuted the calumny, and silenced the calumniators, and the name 
of Rachel Jackson, cherished through a long life in the inner 
sanctuary of her husband's noble heart, shall be remembered and 
loved by all his countrymen. 

A married man, a successful lawyer, the owner of a valuable 
plantation, Andrew Jackson, in 1795, is elected by his townsfolk to 
represent them in the convention which has been summoned to 
create a constitution for Tennessee. In looking at that instrument, 
we cannot help fancying that certain of its provisions are the off- 
spring of his mind, and contain the germs of his subsequent political 
creed and conduct. 
19 



218 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

That constitution declares that "perpetuities and monopolies aie 
contrary to the genius of a free government, and shall not be 
allowed." Was not this his first declaration of war with that 
mammoth monopoly and would-be perpetuity, the " monster" Bank 
of the United States ? 

Another article declares that " an equal participation of the free 
navigation of the Mississippi is one of the inherent rights of the 
citizens of this state ;. it cannot, therefore, be conceded to any 
prince, potentate, power, person or persons whatever." 

In this declaration, we behold the dawning of that grand idea 
which led to the purchase and occupation of Louisiana, and to the 
battle of New Orleans. How well it harmonizes with that spirited 
appeal which he made to the Tennessee volunteers in 1812 ! "To 
the people of the western country," said he, " is peculiarly com- 
mitted, by nature herself, the defence of the lower Mississippi and 
the city of New Orleans. At the approach of an enemy in that 
quarter, the whole western world should pour forth its sons to meet 
the invader and drive him back to the sea." Two years after this 
prophetic appeal, how literally and how gloriously, under his direc- 
tion, were the approaching enemy met by the living torrent of the 
West, and driven, with appalling carnage, into the waters of the 

gulf! 

Tennessee has now a constitution. The act of Congress of June 
1, 1796, admits her to the growing family of the Union. She is 
entitled to a single representative in Congress. Andrew Jackson 
is not a candidate ; but he is elected as by acclamation. The follow- 
ing year, at the earliest moment allowed by our organic law, at the 
age of thirty, he is elevated to the Senate of the United States. 

Were. but. his icidoiced mother now alive ! He remains in the 
Senate but a single session, and resigns. Political malice has asserted 
that his resignation was a confession of incompetency. The people 
of Tennessee do not so regard it. They hasten to offer him additional 
honours. Scarcely has he vacated his seat in the Senate, ere he is 
appointed one of the judges in law and equity, of the Supreme 
Court of Tennessee. In this eminent and trying position he remains 
for a period of about six years, often desirous of resigning, for his 
health is infirm, and his labours are exhausting, but always com- 
pelled to forego his wishes by the remonstrances of the best and 
ablest men in the state, who exhort him to remain upon the bench, 
"that our common country may derive additional benefits from 
those powers of thought, and independence of mind, which nature 
never designed should be lost in retirement." He yields to their 
solicitations, and passes through a judicial career, the relation of 
which would cause to tingle the ears of our city-bred and delicately 
nurtured judges. 

At his first court, the supremacy of the law is made dependent 



BOLLES'S EULOGY. 219 

on his personal courage and spirit. A gigantic ruffian, indicted for 
some atrocity, resists the sheriff, and will not be arrested. The 
timid officer accordingly makes out his return, " Russell Bean re- 
fuses to be taken." Judge Jackson replies, " Such a return is a 
legal absurdity. Bean must be taken. If needful, call to your 
aid the posse comitatus!" The sheriff waits till the judges are on 
their way to dinner, and then summons them, as part of the posse, 
to his aid. Judge Jackson responds to the summons, " Yes, sir, I 
will attend you, and see that you do your duty." Bean, armed 
with dirk and pistols, awaits their movements. Jackson calls for 
a loaded pistol and advances. Bean retires. The judge commands 
him to stop and submit to the law. Bean hesitates, throws down 
his weapons, and declares, " I will surrender to you, judge, but to 
no one else !" 

The honesty and fidelity of his judicial conduct excites the 
wrath of a multitude of fraudulent land speculators. As he is ap- 
proaching Jonesborough to hold his court, he is informed that a mob 
has assembled, resolved to tar and feather him on his arrival. Half 
sick at the time, and scarce able to keep in his saddle, he hastens 
his advance, and reaches his hotel so exhausted that he is lifted 
from his horse to a bed. The mob arrive also, under the direction 
of a Colonel Harrison. General Jackson arises at once," throws 
wide open the door of his room, and forwards a message, " Tell 
Colonel Harrison my door is open to receive him and his regiment, 
whenever they choose to wait upon me, and that I hope the colo- 
nel's chivalry will induce him to lead his men, and not follow them !" 

On receiving this significant message, the crowd dispersed. Not 
one of them was ambitious of the honour of first entering the sick 
man's room ! 

Before leaving the bench, Judge Jackson was appointed major- 
general of the militia of Tennessee. He vacated his judicial office 
and retired to private life in 1804, engaging with his own hands 
in the cultivation of his farm, after manufacturing his own farming 
utensils, and glorying in his stock, especially of horses, in the 
rearing of which he took peculiar pleasure. His house was the 
favourite resort of the most prominent men both of Tennessee and 
of other states. He was of that " prompt, frank, and ardent soul," 
as Burr described him ; of that genial and hearty temper and dis- 
position, which secure most effectually the good will of' man ; and 
all who came into his presence were convinced that a rising career 
of distinction lay yet before him. 

The eight years thus spent in comparative seclusion were not 
entirely without incidents which illustrate the sterling qualities of 
the man. It was during this interval that he became involved in 
the bankruptcy of a friend and partner at Nashville. The moment 
he became aware of the condition of the partnership, he dissolved 



220 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

it, sold his house and plantation, paid off every debt, and, removing 
into a log-cabin, patiently began the world anew. Nor was it long 
before his energy, industry, and frugality brought around him once 
more the comforts so nobly sacrificed to maintain his integrity. 

During this same period his business requiring him to visit Mis- 
sissippi, he is obliged to pass through the country of the Chickasaw 
and Choctaw Indians. At the Indian agent's station he finds a 
laro-e party of American emigrants detained under the pretence 
of a want of passports. He is indignant that American citizens 
should be thus waylaid by a government officer and compelled to 
purchase of him their food and forage at enormous prices. He 
advises them to harness their horses, proceed on their journey, and 
shoot as a highwayman any one that shall attempt to detain them. 
The agent then inquires if he himself has a passport. " Yes, sir," 
replies the general, " I always carry mine with me. I am a free- 
born American citizen, and that, under the constitution and laws, 
is my passport to go wherever my business calls me." He pro- 
ceeds upon his journey. Returning, he is told that the agent, with a 
party of one hundred and fifty whites and Indians, is resolved to pre- 
vent his passage until he will produce a passport. He hurries for- 
ward with his party of negroes — sends word to the agent that he 
must interfere only at the peril of his life, and then presents him- 
self, rifle in hand, at the agency. The Indians recognise their old 
acquaintance " Pointed Arrow," and welcome his arrival ; the agent 
is cowed into sullen hospitality, invites the general to pay him a 
visit, and is wholly silent on the subject of passports. Jackson in- 
forms the secretary of war of the occurrence, and the agent is dis- 
missed from office. 

In 1812, war is declared between Great Britain and the United 
States. The news has scarcely reached Nashville when General 
Jackson is in the field, and, through the governor, tenders to the 
president the services of two thousand five hundred volunteers of 
his division, headed by himself. Admirable promptness! He had 
long anticipated that very day. He had noted, with growing im- 
patience, every new aggression of Great Britain upon our com- 
merce, and every new impressment of our seamen. The seven 
thousand American sailors, torn from their country's flag, and their 
own firesides, had, every one, a voice in Jackson's heart. The old 
scar on Jackson's arm throbbed and tingled at each fresh English 
insult; the boy of fourteen was born again, and lived again, in the 
man of forty-five — and at the first whisper of war his impatient 
sword leaped, lightning-like, from its scabbard ! 

Government accepts in part the offer of Jackson, and orders him 
to organize and equip a force of fifteen hundred volunteers, and 
inarch on New Orleans. On the 10th of December, General Jack- 
son addresses the secretary of war — " I am now at the head of 



EULOGY. 221 

two thousand and seventy volunteers — the choicest of our citizens. 
They will rejoice at the opportunity of placing the American eagle 
on the ramparts of Mobile, Pensacola, and St. Augustine." In the 
heart of winter these hardy sons of Tennessee embark upon their 
voyage of more than a thousand miles. The earth is buried in 
snow : the rivers are full of running ice. How shall they over- 
come the dangers of the Cumberland, of the Ohio, of the Missis- 
sippi ? Already they have answered this inquiry. A thousand 
miles of their voyage are accomplished — and on the 15th of Feb- 
ruary they bivouac at Natchez. All eyes and all hopes are direct- 
ed towards New Orleans. But at Natchez their advance is coun- 
termanded by orders from the department at Washington. " Their 
services will not be needed at New Orleans : they may return to 
Tennessee!" "Let us then," wrote Jackson, "let us march to the 
lines of Canada, and wipe from our military character the stain of 
recent disasters." But no ; a new secretary of war has adopted 
new policy; the cold, cruel order, more intolerable than winter 
march or the brunt of battle — the order is, " Discharge your troops ; 
return to Tennessee!" What sorrow, what indignation, what rase, 
now filled the hearts of these brave volunteers and of their excited 
commander! The order of return will be obeyed. The order of 
discharge is disregarded. "I shall commence the line of march on 
Thursday the 25th instant," wrote Jackson ; " should the contractor 
not feel himself justified in sending on provisions for my infantry, 
or the quartermaster wagons for the transportation of my sick, I 
shall dismount the cavalry and carry them on, providing the means 
for their support from my own private funds. If those fail, I thank 
God we have plenty of horses to feed my troops to the Tennessee, 
and there I know my country will meet me with ample supplies. 
These brave men, at the call of their country, voluntarily rallied 
around its insulted standard. They followed me to the field : I 
shall carefully march them back to their homes." 

And he kept his word. On his own credit he borrowed $5000, 
which he expended in whatever would most contribute to the com- 
fort of his returning troops. To those brave men he spoke in words 
of cheerful encouragement. " I will not leave one of the sick," 
said he, " nor one of the detachment behind. I led you here : I 
will lead you back to your country and friends. The sick, as far 
as I have the power and means, shall be made comfortable. If 
any die, I will pay to them the last tribute of respect ; they shall 
be buried with the honours of war!" 

He gave up to the sick and weary soldier his own horses, and 
set his staff the example of marching on foot. One man is reported 
in a dying condition, whom it was useless to remove. " Not a 
man shall be left," said he, " who has life in him !" And by that 
poor fellow, jolted in hip rough cart, along those horrible roads, 
IP*- 



222 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

does he walk with tender solicitude. The sick man opens his 
eyes, and asks, in half-uttered accents, " Where am 77" How did 
the voice of his commander recall him from the dead by the heart- 
stirring answer, " On your way home, my good fellow!" From 
that moment he recovered, and before their homeward march was 
completed, he was in perfect health. 

Thus ended Jackson's first campaign. Though indignant, he is 
not discouraged. Again he offers to march on Canada. " I have," 

DO J 

wrote he, " a few standards, wearing the American eagle, that I 
should be happy to place on the ramparts of Maiden!" "What 
would have been the result," says one of his eulogists, " if the 
command of the north-western army had, at the opening of the 
war, been intrusted to a man, who, in action, was ever so fortunate 
that his vehement will seemed to have made destiny capitulate to 
his designs?" 

But the fortunes of Jackson were to lead him to glory in another 
direction. Southern Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and the 
scattered settlements of the Alabama, were now panic-stricken, and 
bleeding under the tomahawks of the Creek or Muscogee warriors, 
more than four thousand of whom were let loose upon the devoted 
south-west, by their Christian and chivalric allies of Great Britain. 
Three hundred whites had been massacred at Fort Mims in a single 
day, and every post, and settlement, and cabin, on that frontier, 
was in danger. Under these circumstances, Jackson was again 
summoned to the field, with two thousand five hundred volunteers. 
He was then confined to his sick chamber, his left arm shattered by 
a pistol-ball, and supported in a sling. But he obeyed the call to 
arms ! " It is surely high gratification," writes he to a friend, on 
the 7th of October, 1813, " to learn that the Creeks are so attentive 
to my situation as to save me the pain of travelling. I must not 
be outdone in politeness, and will, therefore, endeavour to meet 
them on the middle ground." 

I cannot dwell, as I would, on the memorable events of that 
brief but extraordinary Creek campaign. The troops, both volun- 
teers and militia, were ready at his call ; but tormenting delays and 
vexations attended the collection of adequate stores and provisions. 
Impatient of these delays, Jackson resolved, at last, to cut his way, 
at all hazards, to the very heart of the Indian country, and there 
end the war by a sudden and fatal blow. Onward he went, with 
scarcely a week's supply, through trackless forests, and over rugged 
mountains, and across almost impenetrable swamps. The first im- 
portant battle is at Tallushatchee — a name that will ring sadly in 
the ear of every surviving Creek to the end of time. And yet 
shall the red man and the white remember the terrors of that field 
with mingled emotions, for it bears immortal testimony to the human- 
ity, as well as the military genius, of Jackson. Among the slain is 



BOLLES'S EULOGY. 223 

found an Indian mother, 'an infant boy, unhurt, sucking her lifeless 
breast.' Jackson requests the captive women to take care of the 
child. They refuse ; "All his relations," say they, " are dead — kill 
him too !" How did those words thrill through the heart of the 
orphan general! "All my relations, also," thought he, "are 
dead !" He took the infant child to his own tent — with his own 
hand he feeds him with sugared water — he sends him home to 
Nashville to become the adopted child of the Hermitage — with the 
aid of his willing wife he rears that boy to manhood, educates him 
to business, engages all his affections — and when Lincoyer dies, 
that affectionate and childless couple weep over his grave and re- 
member him as a son. 

From Tallushatchee, with a half-starved army, the general, by 
forced marches, day and night, pushes on to Talladega, a friendly 
fort beleaguered by one thousand hostile Creeks. Scarcely pausing 
to eat their meager rations, but appeasing their hunger as they may 
with a handful of parched corn, or a few acorns snatched from the 
ground as they hurry on, these indomitable volunteers rush ever 
forward, and ere the besieging force are aware of the presence of 
an enemy, they are wholly surrounded, and the thunderbolt of war 
has overwhelmed them with sudden destruction. 

The friendly garrison thus relieved, are themselves almost 
starving, and Jackson must again push forward with famishing 
troops. One of his soldiers discovers the general seated upon a log, 
engaged in eating with apparent relish. Supposing that Jackson 
had secreted something to supply his own want, he asks for a share 
of his rations. " I never turn away the hungry," said the general, 
" while I have anything to give them !" and so saying, he drew 
from his pocket a handful of acorns ! With such a commander, 
his soldiers are ready to endure all that human fortitude can bear. 
But actual starvation will break the heart, and destroy the discipline 
of an army. What wonder, then, that a few days after the victory 
of Talladega, we find the militia in open mutiny, clamouring for 
bread, and actually marching homeward. Jackson believes that re- 
lief is at hand — he feels that the mutiny must be quelled. His 
volunteers remain true ; with them he throws himself across the 
path of his retreating militia, whom he threatens with instant 
death if they do not return at once to duty ; and they submit to his 
iron will. But the volunteers themselves are starving and disaf- 
fected ; they regret that they have been used as Jackson's instruments 
to suppress the mutiny : they resolve themselves to desert the field 
on the day following. They attempt their project — but behold ! 
across their path stands that terrible leader, backed up by the fixed 
bayonets of his now obedient militia ; death to the disobedient ! 
Tn* their turn they submit: and thus, by a double victory, unparal- 



224- MONUMENT TO .IACKSON. 

leled in the annals of war, has General Jackson conquered his own 
army ! 

Jackson now assures the army that if relief is not received within 
forty-eight hours, he will lead them homeward. Thus two linger- 
ing days pass by, and no provisions arrive ; the soldiers remind him 
of his promise, and with a heavy heart, he orders their retreat. 
Within a taw miles, however, they meet a herd of one hundred 
and fifty beeves. Their hunger is appeased, but their discontents 
remain. They will not retrace their steps. One company, in open 
disobedience, actually resumes its march. Once more, Jackson, 
with his staff, casts himself in their front, commands them to return, 
and orders the first man shot who advances a step. They are in- 
timidated, and retire to the main body. Here, however, they dis- 
cover the entire army — mutinous, resolved — in motion homeward. 
In this awful moment the heart of Old Hickory never quails. He 
snatches up a musket, throws it with his one serviceable arm across 
his horse's neck, plants himself alone before the entire brigade, and 
with flaming eye and earnest voice, declares that he will drive a 
bullet through the false heart of the coward who first deserts the 
field. It was an instant of tremendous responsibility — one man 
against a host ! But honour and justice, courage and patriotism, 
were on the one side, and conscious guilt upon the other. The 
army pauses and gazes silently on that stern countenance and com- 
manding form. His staff rally at his side. Two companies place 
themselves under his direction. The hearts of the rebellious host 
relent, and again that iron will has conquered them ; they declare 
themselves ready to follow wherever he leads. He leads them back 
to duty. 

I must not linger over the subsequent exciting scenes of this 
Creek campaign. New discouragements arise, new troops, also, ar- 
rive to replace those who have tarnished the glory of their valour 
by the shame of their mutiny. Jackson pushes onward with eight 
hundred men. On the night of the 21st January, 1814, and on the 
following day, he gained the double victory of Emuckfaw, and on 
the 24-th, the still more desperate field of Enotochopco, wherein 
the personal valour that he displayed was like that of Napoleon at 
the bridge of Lodi. 

The Creeks, thus defeated in a succession of conflicts, retire more 
deeply within the Indian country, and concentrate themselves for 
a final struggle at Tohopeka, or the Horseshoe bend of the river 
Talapoosa. Within their camp are a thousand warriors ; secure, as 
they believe, awaiting the arrival of him whose destiny it was to 
Income the destroying angel of their bloodthirsty race. Hemmed 
in by the river, their peninsula of one hundred acres is protected 
on the landward side by a high and ingenious double breastwork of 
logs, perforated for musketry. Their doom is delayed, however, 



BOLLES'S EULOGY. 225 

by new discords among the turbulent soldiery of Jackson. Sternest 
measures of military discipline become indispensable ; for even 
general officers are found fanning the flames of disaffection. An 
example must be made. John Wood, once a deserter, now in open 
mutiny, is seized, court-martialled, condemned, and shot in sight of 
the whole army. The event occasions great excitement : but it 
teaches the needful lesson ; and henceforward we find no more of 
mutiny or insubordination. 

On the 27th of March, at 10 A. M., Jackson and his forces are 
before the breastworks of Tohopeka. General Coffee crosses the 
river, and surrounds the bend with a cordon of cavalry and friendly 
Indians. General Jackson plants his two pieces of artillery before 
the breastwork. The friendly Indians swim the river, and set fire 
to the rear of the village. Jackson's infantry have stormed the 
barrier of logs ; — it is carried : — the Tennesseeans are within the 
camp ! 

And now, between their blazing village and the murderous fire 
of the storming party, these fierce and sullen sons of the forest 
fight their last desperate battle; refusing all quarter; answering 
offered mercy with a shower of bullets, and only ending their 
struggle when darkness rendered further strife impossible. Eight 
hundred braves perished in those eight hours of carnage. Three 
hundred of their women and children were taken prisoners. Thus 
set, for ever, in smoke and slaughter, the sun of the Muscogees! 
We mourn over the infatuation which maddened this unhappy- 
tribe ; we abhor that English policy which incited them to hostili- 
ty ; we admire the bold, brave arm which crushed that tribe, and 
humbled its survivors into willing and lasting peace. 

After the battle a young Creek warrior, severely wounded, was 
brought before General Jackson, and a surgeon was called to dress 
his wounds. With his rude notions of war he regarded his death 
as inevitable, and looking earnestly at the general as his limb was 
bound up, he exclaimed, " Cure him, kill him again ?" Jackson 
assured him that he was safe, and moved by his youth, as he had 
been previously affected by the helpless infant at Tallushatchee, he 
sent him home to Nashville, watched over his interests, and esta- 
blished him in a respectable trade. 

How freshly and sweetly, like blossoms on the battle-field, do 
such noble and generous acts spring up amid the waste of war! 
And how much of beauty and of tenderness do they add to the 
heroic strength of a great commandpr! They are like a garland 
of roses around the iron helmet of the warrior. A hundred gene- 
rations have wept over the verses of Homer which describe the 
parting of the Trojan chief from his infant boy as he goes out to 
battle. American hearts shall throb with tearful pleasure, through 



226 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

all time, as they think of the tenderness of Jackson towards the 
infant Lincoyer, and the youthful captive of Tohopeka. 

This battle concluded that terrible Indian war — the most terrible 
in the annals of our Indian warfare. 

And now tbe triumphant general retires, amidst the acclamations 
of the whole south-west, as ardent in their gratitude as they are 
valiant in battle, his health impaired, to seek refreshment in fire- 
side quiet and repose. To that fireside, for many succeeding years, 
did the surviving warriors of the Creek nation resort, to display 
their love and veneration for the great chief who had conquered 
their nation by his valour, and their hearts by his kindness. 

In closing this chapter of his history, it has been truly said, by 
one of his biographers, that " General Jackson had now fought him- 
self into the public confidence, and the results of his last daring ex- 
pedition electrified the people of Tennessee. Men felt safe under 
his command, and every eye was directed to him as to the day-star 
of his country's glory." 

His appointment to the rank of major-general in the army of 
the United States, conferred upon him soon after his return to Nash- 
ville, was the expression of that national regard which his conduct 
had so warmly awakened. 

His next public service was in negotiating, under the direction 
of the general government, a treaty of amity on the borders of 
Florida, in the summer of 1814, with the remaining Creeks. Du- 
ring this negotiation, General Jackson entered into correspondence 
with the Spanish governor of Florida, residing at Pensacola. Eng- 
lish forces, both naval and military, together with hostile Indians 
under the command and drill of English officers, had been permitted 
by the Spanish authorities to rendezvous, recruit, and manoeuvre at 
Pensacola, and to use it as in all respects the head-quarters of the 
British forces. Colonel Nichols, of the British army, had issued 
his proclamation to the people of Louisiana and Kentucky, dated 
"Head-Quarters, Pensacola," inciting the Louisianians and Ken- 
tuckians to revolt, informing them that he now had under his direc- 
tion " a numerous British and Spanish squadron," and "a large 
body of Indians commanded by British officers," ready to be let 
loose upon the south-western states. It was through Spanish ports 
and Spanish aid in Florida that Great Britain kept up her connex- 
ion with the savages of that region. In a word, Spanish Florida 
had grossly abused and violated her neutrality, and allowed herself 
to be made the instrument of our enemies, whose military projects 
were then concentrating themselves upon our settlements along the 
Gulf of Mexico. 

General Jackson was not the man to stand idly by and gaze upon 
the progress of events like these. He first endeavoured to bring 
the governor of Florida to a sense of duty by correspondence ; but 



BOLLES'S EULOGY. 227 

falsehood and equivocation were the substance of the Spaniard's 
reply. Finding that military force alone could avail in this emer- 
gency, that the nest of hornets required to be seized and crushed 
by a hand of mail, General Jackson directed his march on Pensa- 
cola. He encamped before it, November 6th, 1814, and sent a flag 
to the governor. The governor fired upon the messenger. British 
troops filled the forts and manned the batteries ; British men-of- 
war, ready for action, filled the bay and commanded the approaches 
to the town. 

But neither British nor Spanish forces could resist the furious 
assault of the American general. Pensacola, like Tohopeka, was 
carried by storm ; and on the 7th day of November, just two months 
and a day before the battle of New Orleans, the American flag 
Avaved over those treacherous walls which had so long sheltered 
our foes — the British fleet was driven from the bay, and their 
savage allies to the eversrlades. 

This brilliant and successful movement of Jackson, however 
much it may be criticized by party malignity, was a just and manly 
act — in strict accordance with the principles of international law, 
and in exact conformity to the requirements of national honour and 
national safety. It was a lesson to false and treacherous neutrals, 
that whenever they become, in fact, the allies of our enemies, they 
shall be subjected to the treatment of belligerents. 

From Pensacola, General Jackson was summoned to the defence 
of New Orleans. He arrived there early in December, and entered 
upon his arduous duties with a zeal worthy of one who was about, 
in the language of Jefferson, "to fill the measure of his country's 
glory !" 

An immense naval and military force is known to be approaching 
the mouths of the Mississippi. The veteran soldiers of Great Bri- 
tain, flushed with their victories in the peninsula of Spain, have 
now come to crush the raw recruits of America. New Orleans 
is wholly unprepared for resistance. There seem to be no means 
of preparation for defence. Arms and armed men are alike want- 
ing. The governor of the state has no confidence in the fidelity of 
the people. They are of mixed races and uncertain allegiance. 
The national feeling has scarcely had time to plant itself in their 
affections. By proclamations, and otherwise, efforts have been 
made to excite them to revolt. All is confusion, perplexity, and 
panic. 

But General Jackson has arrived. If any man can save them, it 
is he. He arrives, exhausted by fatigue and anxiety ; feeble in 
health : fit rather for the hospital than the field, yet wearing that 
cheerful serenity which awakens hope, and inspires confidence in 
the beholder. The city grows calm as it beholds his clear blue eye 
radiating only an assurance of success ! He reviews the city troops ; 



228 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

he visits every fort along the river ; he inspects the militia ; he 
searches the city for arms and ammunition ; he summons the troops 
of his division from every direction to march, with hot haste, day 
and night, towards the point of danger; he calls on the legislature 
of Louisiana for levies of money, of men, of the munitions of war ; 
it is necessary, in his judgment, to convert that whole region into 
one great camp. No emissary of the enemy shall enter without 
his knowledge ; no spy or traitor shall depart without his consent. 
The crisis is one of life or death to his country. Upon him rests 
the great burden of responsibility. He assumes it, and on the 15th 
day of December, martial law is proclaimed in New Orleans! 

At noon, on the 23d of December, he is informed that a portion 
of the British troops, to the number of three or four thousand men, 
have effected a landing nine miles below the city. He resolves to 
give them battle that very night. As he marches out of the city 
his ear is pained and his heart touched by the groans and cries of a 
multitude of panic-stricken females. He speaks to them through 
Aid-de-camp Livingston: he bids them feel no fear; he pledges 
himself that the enemy shall never reach the city. They believe 
him. " His words are like electricity ;" to know that he is fearless 
inspires them also with confidence. 

On the following morning:; the news of last night's battle comes 
in. Four thousand British troops have been assailed and driven 
from their position, and forced with slaughter from point to point 
for nearly a mile, by half that number of American militia and 
riflemen. What joy, what pride, what exultation flies through the 
city, and fills the whole encampment! Never was blow more op- 
portune inflicted. It raised the courage of our own troops to the 
highest pitch ; it kindled the enthusiasm of the people; it checked 
and discouraged our enemies. 

From the morning of this glorious 23d till the evening of the 
27th — for five successive days and four successive nights — is Gene- 
ral Jackson occupied, without one hour of sleep or of repose, in 
strengthening his lines, in preparing for that deadly assault which 
he knows must come, and which may come at any hour. How he 
survived this amazing trial of his physical powers of endurance, 
we know not; but by the good Providence of God he did, and on 
the evening of the 27th he slept. 

Between that day and the glorious 8th of January, the British 
forces made two successive but unsuccessful assaults upon the line 
of Jackson's defences. Their batteries effected a few small breaches 
in the works ; and these Jackson, with ready ingenuity, caused to 
be filled up with those cotton-bales which have since given their 
name to that entire breastwork. It marks the calmness of the gene- 
ral's mood, after this long period of sleepless days and nights, that 
when one of the excited merchants of the city came out to com- 



BOLLES's EULOGY. 229 

plain of the seizure of his cotton-bags, the general coolly put a 
musket into his hands, and pointing to the bales in the breastwork, 
replied — " There is your property. I know nobody that has any 
better right than you to defend it !" 

At last the morning of the eighth of January dawns on the val- 
ley of the Mississippi. Nine thousand British troops, who for the 
last eight days have slept or watched upon the field within sight of 
our works, are seen advancing with admirable precision to attack, 
for the last time, that famous breastwork, behind which stand three 
thousand seven hundred brave, though undisciplined Americans, 
ready to fight and to die for country and for home, for glory and 
for freedom ! 

The front ranks of the British columns bring fascines to fill the 
ditch, and scaling-ladders to surmount the breastwork. Their na- 
tional pride and personal courage are stimulated into full exercise : 
their cupidity and lust have been kindled into flame by that infa- 
mous watchword of " Beauty and booty ;" and already they revel 
in the anticipated license that is to follow their easy victory. They 
advance under cover of a storm of shot and shells and rockets. 
They are met by the thunder of our own artillery, and by that 
deadly volley of musketry, which rolled along our breastwork with 
one incessant peal that knew no pause in its portentous music. An 
invisible foe mows down their ranks, as if the very scythe of death 
were swinging: from end to end of their columns. Their three 
leading generals are killed or mortally wounded, when, flying from 
this shower of death, that boastful soldiery find refuge beyond the 
range of our fire. Rallied and re-formed by their remaining gene- 
ral, they again advance; but again that incessant volley of mus- 
ketry is heard, like the roll-call of fate, and again they fly ! 

The battle of New Orleans is ended! Thov sands of British 
dead encumber the battle-field. The American loss, in killed and 
wounded, is but thirteen! 

History records no victory like this. It was the last great act 
of the war. Its character impresses itself upon all minds and hearts 
beyond the power of words. 

Twelve days after the battle the victorious general enters that 
grateful city, in the midst of a triumph as enthusiastic and sincere 
as ever greeted the approach of a conqueror. 

" These," says the historian of America, "these were great deeds 
for the nation. For himself, he did a greater. Had not Jackson 
been renowned for the vehement impetuosity of his passions, for 
his defiance of others' authority, and the unbending vigour of his 
self-will? Behold the saviour of Louisiana, all garlanded with 
victory, viewing around him the city he had preserved, the mai- 
dens and children whom his heroism had protected, stand in the 
presence of a petty judge, who gratifies his wounded vanity by an 
20 



230 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

abuse of his judicial power. Every breast in the crowded audi- 
ence heaves with indignation. He — the passionate — the impetuous 
— he, whose power was to be humbled, whose honour questioned, 
whose laurels tarnished, alone stood sublimely serene : and when 
the craven judge trembled, and faltered, and dared not proceed, — 
himself, — the arraigned one, — bade him take courage, and stood by 
the law, even in the moment when the law was made the instru- 
ment of insult and wrong on himself, — at the moment of his most 
perfect claim to the highest civic honours!" 

The incident thus alluded to deserves a more minute recital, for 
it shows that though, in the hour of national peril, the man we 
mourn was ready, with heroic courage, to save his country by the 
boldest exercise of military power, he was equally prompt, on the 
return of peace, to sacrifice himself to maintain the ordinary work- 
ings of the ordinary laws and institutions of his country. 

After New Orleans had been placed under martial law, Judge 
Hall, by a writ of habeas corpus, undertook to interfere with a 
military arrest. Jackson forthwith ordered the intermeddling 
judge beyond his camp. On the return of peace, the judge also 
returned, and resumed his judicial functions, summoning the general 
to appearand answer for this alleged contempt. Jackson appeared, 
and his counsel, when they would have argued his defence, were 
silenced by the judge, who proceeded to impose upon the general 
a fine of one thousand dollars. This act was most deeply resented 
by the people of New Orleans, who filled the court, and whose en- 
thusiasm for the saviour of their city knew no bounds. But Gene- 
ral Jackson restrained and rebuked their fervour, declaring his 
cheerful submission to the law, and giving them to understand that 
the same arm which had saved the city, should be raised, if need- 
ful, to protect the court. The citizens, indignant at this act of 
judicial revenge, were nevertheless withheld from violence. They 
offered to replace the thousand dollars which had thus been wrung 
from their general ; but he refused their offer. He foresaw the day 
— too long delayed — but which came at last, when 20,000,000 
freemen, speaking through the national Congress, should vindicate 
the rectitude of his conduct, and declare to mankind, that America 
does not willingly allow her valiant defenders to be fined and re- 
proached for effecting their country's salvation. 

Two years of peace and private life now intervened. The 
Seminole campaign of 1817, recalls General Jackson to military 
activity. He is once more ordered to suppress Indian hostility and 
Spanish perfidy, along the borders and in the very heart of Florida. 
Again, as three years before, and for similar reasons, he takes 
possession of Pensacola, and humbles the pride of the Spaniard. 
The Spanish minister complains of aggression, but our executive 
replies to his murmuring, and demonstrates to the world that our 



BOELEs's EULOGY. 231 

conduct is just. Congress itself takes up the subject, and although 
party vehemence assails, the national will protects the character 
and conduct of Jackson. 

Some of his political adversaries have complained that the force 
which he led against the Seminoles was so large that the Indians 
were overpowered almost without striking a blow in self-defence, 
and with little effusion of blood. We cannot join in any such 
censure. We are content to approve the wisdom of his policy, 
and to admire the energy of his action, the celerity of his move- 
ments, the brilliancy of his success. 

Others of his political foes have loudly condemned him as a 
monster of cruelty, because, under his impartial direction, the laws 
of war made no discrimination between bloodthirsty savages and 
English outlaws, associated with them in their enterprises. The 
two Englishmen, who thus felt the severity they deserved, have 
awakened far more sympathy in the gentle bosoms of American 
partisans, than in the breasts of their own countrymen. Parliament, 
ever ready to assert the extremest right of British subjects, investi- 
gated the case of Arbuthnot and Ambrister, and found in their 
execution no cause of complaint. 

The fatigues and exposures of the Seminole campaign exhausted 
the physical energies of the commander, and his weeping soldiers 
carried him homeward through the swamps of Florida in an almost 
dying condition. But his wife now flies to his side, and her gentle 
arms rescue her husband from death, that he may still further serve 
and save his country. 

There is not time for us to follow him through his subsequent 
career as governor of Florida, or as member, for the second time, 
of the Senate of the United States. 

Higher dignities and a wider sphere of action await him. A 
grateful and admiring people, long familiar with his patriotism, his 
courage, and firmness, summon him to the highest honour in their 
gift. He is elected president of the United States, and enters upon 
his duties on the 4th of March, 1829. 

It was my good fortune to witness his inauguration, and never 
can I forget the image of that great man as he then appeared — the 
snows of age scattered upon his reverend head, but with unbending 
form, and eye of youthful fire — the visible representative of the 
true American spirit ! 

He came to the presidency !n an hour when his country most 
needed his aid. 

In our relations with various foreign states, there existed per- 
rlexities and embarrassments, which no spirit less resolute, and no 
name less potent, than his, could well have resolved! It was his 
happy lot, carrying into vigorous action the just policy of "the 
Father of his Country," to remove every embarrassment, and main- 



232 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

tain undisturbed the honour of our government, and the blessings 
of peace. 

In our domestic condition and infernal policy, there existed 
evils, and there impended perils far more alarming. The government 
of the country, its financial condition and commercial prosperity, 
were groaning under the almost despotic control of a vast and cor- 
rupt — an insolent and domineering — moneyed monopoly ; that Bank 
of the United States, which now lies buried in an infamous grave, 
but which then stalked boldly into our national halls of legislation, 
and approached the conductors of the public press, offering its 
golden bribes as openly as if venality were a merit, and corruption 
were a virtue. There was no living man save Andrew Jackson, 
who could successfully encounter this monstrous corporation — resist 
its encroachments — defy its power — expose its corruptions— and 
prostrate its pride. And it required all his unrivalled popularity- 
all his wonderful power of inspiring the hearts of other men with his 
own opinions and feelings — all his amazing inflexibility of will— 
and all his indomitable courage, both physical and moral — to com- 
mence, conduct, and conclude, that battle of the giants — the war 
betwixt the p eople and the bank. Let us thank God, that such a 
man was found to deliver his country from the curse of that corrr.pt 
institution ! Let us thank God, that in stormiest and most perilous 
times, when the political heavens are darkened, and the earth is 
shaken, and the elements are thrown into wild uproar, and the 
hearts of most men fail them by reason of fear, He doth, in his 
Providence, raise up and send amongst us, those dauntless spirits, 
which can 

" Ride on the whirlwind, and direct the storm." 

At the period of Jackson's election, the legislation of this coun- 
try had broken over, and wandered wide from the true republican 
channels. A high protective tariff then inflicted intolerable 
burdens upon the many, for the exclusive benefit of a small and 
favoured class. In order to sustain this tariff by a seeming public 
necessity, the public liabilities were every year increased by some 
new scheme of expense, under the name of internal improvement ; 
and thus millions of money were wasted, on land and on sea, that 
the revenues of the country, so needlessly and so unjustly levied, 
might find an outlet, and the burdens of indirect taxation be more 
and more firmly fastened on the reluctant shoulders of the people. 
This double political sin, it was Jackson's high mission to abolish. 
He paid off every dollar of the national debt. He put an end to 
that delusive system of extravagance which was thus eating out the 
substance of the citizens. He reduced the revenue of the country, 
by a reduction of the tariff to the exact standard of the public ne- 
cessity. His first step was to impose the restraint of the executive 



BOLLES'S EULOGY. 233 

veto upon every extravagant or unconstitutional appropriation, and 
thus, almost for the first time, gave a living force and virtue to that 
hitherto neglected part of our national constitution. 

Most fortunately for our national Union, also, was such a presi- 
dent, at that peculiar crisis, intrusted with the supreme executive 
authority. Himself a friend to a moderate tariff, so framed as to 
give equal protection to every form of American industry, yet re- 
solved that the revenues of the government should be graduated by 
its wants — himself an earnest defender of the rights of the several 
states — opposed to a wide and lax interpretation of the general 
constitution, yet devoted, heart and soul, to the Union — he, of all 
men, was the appropriate and fitly chosen agent of the people, at 
that great epoch, when his own native state, her patience exhaust- 
ed by that legislation of the general government which she deemed 
destructive alike of her interests and of her rights, resolved to assert 
her individual sovereignty and cast off her allegiance to the Union. 

Then came the darkest hour in the history of our government — 
black as midnight — to be followed, however, by as bright a dawn 
as that which ushered in the birthday of our national freedom. 

Who has forgotten that eventful crisis ? Who has forgotten that 
immortal proclamation? The declaration of our independence has 
consecrated the name of its author. The proclamation of Presi- 
dent Jackson shall, in like manner, embalm his name in the affec- 
tions of his countrymen ! Its spirit-stirring appeals, its impassioned 
eloquence, its unanswerable logic, its words of solemn warning, 
smote upon the_ national heart as the rod of Moses upon the rock 
in the wilderness, and the deep fountains of universal feeling were 
broken up ; and amidst the wide rushing tide of patriotism, the 
dreary waste of intestine discord and domestic war was swallowed 
up for ever. 

The eight years of Jackson's administration, full of stirring events 
and strong political excitements, have not yet passed so far from 
our sight as to have allowed all the passions and prejudices of that 
period to subside and die away ;. but we rejoice in the conviction 
that all men, of all parties, are now found ready and willing to 
admit his patriotism, and to admire that heroic energy with which 
he dedicated himself and all his powers to what he believed the 
interests of our common country. 

Let us now turn with him from the turbulent career of public 
action, and behold him once more established in the seclusion of 
the Hermitage. Old age and years of hardship have written their 
rough history upon that bending form and furrowed countenance. 
He rejoices to lay down the burden of both office and honour. The 
cherished wife of his affections is no more ; and now his longest 
and most frequent pilgrimage is to her tomb, in which he hopes 
ere long to lie down by her side. An orphan himself, he has no 
20* 



234 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

children, save such as his warm heart has adopted. The Hermi- 
tage is, indeed, filled with devoted friends, and is resorted to by 
almost worshipping crowds. The regard of an admiring world still 
follows him in his retirement. His eye is still open and intent to 
discern the progress of events, and the growing greatness of his 
country. His heart still throbs with its accustomed pulse of patri- 
otism, and with his youthful love of freedom. Every foot of our 
national domain, every point of our national honour, every star and 
stripe in our country's flag, is as dear to his heart as when, in the ar- 
dour of young blood, he devoted himself to the cause of America. 

But, nevertheless, his few remaining years are 3'ears of quiet 
meditation and communion with his God. Another world is dawn- 
ing on his vision. His heart is holding converse, with spiritual 
truth. The Infinite, with its endless being, its illimitable extent, 
its immeasureable power — that grand idea, before which the soul 
of the greatest stands reverent and humble — that Infinite, and he, 
the greatest of living men, are now face to face ; and Jackson bows 
down before the presence of his God, as a little child in his docility 
and meekness — as a little child in his love of faith. 

In his sick room, behold his constant companion in that well- 
thumbed Bible ! From his evening solitude, hearken to the accents 
of his prayer! Around his dying pillow, give ear to those words 
of comfort and those ejaculations of Christian joy and hope that 
fall from his venerable lips. " Do not weep." said he to those who 
beheld his bodily anguish, " my sufferings are less than those of 
Christ upon the cross!" 

The hero's last hour has come, in the stillness of the Sabbath, in 
the sweetness of early summer, in the presence of all who are 
dearest to his affectionate heart. He speaks to them of the good- 
ness and glory of God ; of the love and atonement of Jesus ; of the 
joys of heaven. And now, as his family cluster around him, and 
the last breath flutters upon his lips, he exclaims, "Dear children, 
servants, and friends, I trust to meet you all in heaven, both white 
and black — all, both white and black;" ;ind with this affectionate 
farewell, the spirit of him, "the foremost man of all this world," 
escapes to immortality ! 

"Socrates died like a philosopher;" but it was the happier lot 
of Jackson to die like a Christian. Fit consummation to a life like 
his. Devoted for nearly eighty years to the cause of the republic, 
his dying breath bears witness to the truth of that religion on which 
alone the republic can safely found its institutions. His life is its 
own best monument — his own best eulogy. It sprang from the dark 
valley of obscurity, like the peaks of his favourite Alleghanies from 
the valleys of the west, into the sight and the admiration of a world 
— rough, rugged, and sublime, piercing through every cloud, it tow- 
ered aloft till its summit was bathed in the light of Heaven. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT WI LKESBARRE, PA, JULY 4, 1845, 



BY THE 



Hon. HENDRICK B. WRIGHT. 



Fellow Citizens : — The Roman triumvir said in Caesar's funeral 
" that he came to bury Caesar, not to praise him." He knew too 
well that the trophies, recent in the recollection of the people, 
which graced the car of the mighty conqueror, in the triumphal 
entry into the gates of the imperial city, required at his hands no 
eulogy. The history of the great warrior was fully recorded on 
the battle fields of the whole Roman empire. The subjugated 
nations which acknowledged the Roman empire, and which, by the 
law of arms, were made tributary to it, were matters familiar to 
the lowest classes of citizens. The meanest scavenger who swept 
the streets of Rome, knew " Great Caesar," and could recount his 
history — and when Mark Antony desired to obtain the public ear, 
to have commenced by telling the people that he was going to 
speak in praise of him, while they were as well acquainted with 
the subject as the speaker himself, would have been but poorly 
calculated to command their attention. He therefore said, " He 
came to bury Caesar." He came to bestow the rights of sepulture — 
to tender the last offices to the distinguished and illustrious dead. 

On this day, and in the hearing of this audience, no finesse is 
required on my part, in reference to the subject and the occasion 
that have called us together, to obtain from you a patient and 
attentive hearing. It is true, we come to bury the illustrious 
dead ; but also to speak of his many virtues — his valour, and his 
love of country. 

I see collected before me, old age, supported by the tottering staff; 
vigorous and matured manhood ; and buoyant and elastic youth ; 
men who belong to the two great political parties of the land, are 
here ; but they come here under no flags and banners of partisan 
devices. A call has summoned us togetber ; 'tis the funeral dirge, 
which announces to us that one of the nation's great men has gone 

(235) 



236 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

to the receptacle of the dead. That spot, sacred (at least), because 
it terminates the warm and excited feelings of political strife ; 
sacred, because the tenant in his winding sheet is relieved from the 
throes which too frequently lacerate the bleeding heart by the ob- 
stacles which are reared up by emulous ambition ! Sacred, because, 
however much the living man may be censured and condemned, 
who has the temerity to assail the dead? 

We come here, on this, our nation's birth-day, as the children 
of one parental government ;. with one mind, and one object only ; 
sons of the same soil ; supporters of the same republican liberty, and 
endowed with the same equal and unalienable rights, to show our 
respect, and bear honourable testimonial to the memory of a man, 
who, through all the vicissitudes of an eventful life, has ever been 
found, in peace or war, between, his enemies and the altar of our 
common country. 

With such opinions, then, on the part of those whom it is my 
pleasure to address, I can assure you in all sincerity, I feel an honest 
pride and gratification, of which the power of speecn can convey 
but a vague and indefinite notion. It presents a grand moral and 
instructive spectacle, that, although the nation is bereaved of one 
of its brightest ornaments, there is a consolation foreign to most 
governments on the globe, that the individual sympathies of that 
nation are most sensibly and keenly manifested. It is alike honour- 
able to the American heart and American character. It affords 
most ample evidence that the republican simplicity of our constitu- 
tion and laws, operate upon the finest feelings of the heart, and 
produce a generosity that is strictly national in its complexion, and 
elsewhere unknown. 

It is a matter of profound congratulation, and of the deepest mo- 
ment to our country, that among all the distinguished generals and 
statesmen who, from time to time, have been invested with com- 
mand in the field, or at the head of the government in its civil re- 
gulations, with but one or two exceptions, they have proved true 
to the great cause of republican freedom, and civil and religious 
liberty. During the great struggle of the Revolution, there was 
but one Arnold, and his fame is eternal infamy. During the late 
war, there was but one Hull. Cowardice was the crime of this — 
treason of that one, and as regards the national fame, or their own, 
there is but little to choose between the two. The example of lofty 
and sincere patriotism set by Washington, reached, the subordinate 
as well as the ranks ; and the examples of Hancock, and Adams, 
and Jefferson, and Franklin, and Henry, in the councils of the na- 
tion, were of such a stamp and character, as to leave their impress 
upon the whole American people. They lived for their country ; 
and rather than soil the escutcheon of the nation's flag, they were 
ready at all times to offer up their lives. 



EULOGY. 237 

That matchless instrument which has just been repeated in your 
hearing, shows by its language the determination of its framers, and 
the actions of the men corresponded fully with the nature and tone 
of the instrument itself. The pledge to the cause of their " lives, 
their fortunes, and their sacred honours," was no idle boast — no 
vain and unmeaning cant. 

The same patriotism which kindled up the hearts of the colonists 
in 177G, to a blaze, was equally manifest in 1812, and the sons of 
the heroes of the former war proved most conclusively that their 
ancestors' blood coursed through their veins. How widely different 
has been the fate of other nations. Bonaparte was the volunteer 
of a republic, and at the outset of his brilliant career in arms, held 
himself out to France and the world, as an advocate of represen- 
tative government ;. but with unlimited success, these notions, if he 
ever seriously entertained them, vanished with the rapidity of the 
succession of his victories, and when the government of France 
changed rulers it was under the name of a consularship ; but for no 
other reason than to allay the tide of the popular commotion. It 
was in fact a dynasty — and a little more assurance, and the accu- 
mulation of a little more power, made the consul an emperor. 
Simon Bolivar, more recently, was dignified by the high-sounding 
title of Liberator, but who, after the sceptre of power passed into 
his hands, heard of his republican principles or acts'? Till power 
was obtained he was for a free government — when obtained he be- 
came a tyrant. The same results have almost uniformly attended 
the efforts of every people to become free but our own. And do 
I assume too much in imputing the cause, in our case, to the stern 
virtues of the men who commanded our armies and achieved our 
victories'? They were honest. Their subsequent conduct corres- 
ponded with their professions. Republicans at the commencement 
— republicans at the end ! In power, and out of it the same stern 
and unbending patriots. 

Probably among them all, this spirit was not more manifest than 
in the exalted character whose death has brought us together on 
this occasion. Because, however much the nation may be divided 
as to some of the leading measures of his administration, and the 
effect they are to produce hereafter — there is but one opinion as to 
his long and successful career as a soldier. And that opinion is re- 
corded deep and lasting on the hearts of his grateful countrymen 
— an opinion that finds a ready response on every tongue — that the 
laurels that covered the brow of the hero, and which will grow 
green for ever — were the honest reward of true merit, and about 
which there is no dispute. This feature in the life of Andrew 
Jackson, together with all others, has now become a part, and an 
important part of the history of the age in which he lived — and 
let me say, there are few indeed, during that time, who will occu- 



238 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

py so full a page. Nor will I confine the assertion I have made to 
the narrow limits of the lines which designate the width and 
breadth of the United States of America — no indeed. His fame 
as a great captain, and most accomplished and brave soldier has ex- 
tended " to the utmost limits of the civilized world." And by 
common consent, in all nations, professing civilization, the name 
of Andrew Jackson will be classed among the most distinguished 
generals of ancient or modern history. 

The space of time for an exercise, like the present, will not al- 
low me to go into detail. A glance at the most distinguished events 
in the life of this individual must answer the occasion. Andrew 
Jackson was born on the 15th of March, 1767, in what was then 
the colony of South Carolina, whither his father, an emigrant from 
Ireland, had settled some years anterior to that date. Thrown 
into life at a time when the long and angry disputes about taxation 
and the right of representation, between the colonies and the mo- 
ther country were fast approaching a crisis by an appeal to arms — 
and at a time, too, when the aggressions of Great Britain were the 
subject and theme of conversation in all circles and upon all occa- 
sions, it is not a matter of surprise that his youthful mind was 
strongly operated upon by those aggressions. 

At the age of fourteen, we find the youthful soldier armed, and 
fighting for his country. The school-books give place to the mus- 
ket and bayonet ; and the retirement of domestic life to the bustle 
and turmoil of the camp. Taken a prisoner of war, and treated 
with all the rigour and harshness which signalized the Southern 
campaign, over any other portion of the country, it helped to ma- 
ture and cherish those feelings of a strong love of country, which 
his whole life exhibited in after times, as well as a most inveterate 
dislike of his country's foes. All are familiar with the insult 
offered him by a British officer in directing him to perform a menial 
service, and an indignant refusal of which very nearly cost him his 
life. His arm received the sabre which was directed at his head. 
The same brutal treatment caused the death of his only surviving 
brother, who was in confinement with him at the time, whose life 
was the forfeit for refusing to discharge the mean drudgery of the 
British camp. His elder brother having fallen in battle, Andrew 
was the only son left of this noble and gallant family. This treat- 
ment, and the entire destruction of his own family, created in his 
breast a feeling of the most inveterate hostility, and his career in 
after life, at every step, was marked by this precept of his early 
education, toward the British government. Having gone through 
the exciting scenes of. the Revolution, we pass from this period of 
his history, omitting his legal education — his removal to Tennessee 
— the several engagements with the Creeks and Seminoles — the 
battle of the Horseshoe, and the many incidents, which the pen 



Wright's eulogy. 239 

of tne nistonan will record in honour of the man, and come down 
to the period of the war of 1812, to the memorable battle of New 
Orleans, which occurred on the 8th day of January, 1815. 

In some respects the achievement of the victory of New Or- 
leans is without a parallel in the history of nations. It exhibited 
a boldness of design and an admirable foresight as to consequences 
and results without precedent. One of the leading and important 
objects on the part of the British army during the late war was to 
effect a landing of their troops and destroy our property and raze 
our large towns and cities. Knowing well the impracticability of 
possessing by force our territory, — plunder and the fire-brand were 
the means adopted by the British soldiery. For this purpose a fleet 
ascended the Potomac, and the capitol at Washington was demo- 
lished — a landing was effected near Baltimore, and a descent made 
upon that city for the same purpose. 

General Jackson was invested with the command of the Southern 
army, consisting of some two or three thousand men, while that of 
the British was under the command of Sir Edward Packenham. 
The British had made several lodgments on the coast of Florida, 
and a short time previous to the battle of New Orleans, had occu- 
pied the neutral town of Pensacola, and to which the Spanish go- 
vernment had assented. Against this General Jackson remon- 
strated to the Spanish authorities; but in vain. Seeing the neces- 
sity of driving the enemy from the coast, he requested permission 
from the president to attack Pensacola, which was departing from 
its neutrality, the Spaniards permitting it to be the head-quarters 
of the enemy. This permission was not, however, granted, and 
he determined to advance upon the town and expel the English 
and Spanish soldiery at the point of the bayonet, which he effected 
after a short but unavailing resistance, and in the month of No- 
vember, 1814, he marched into Pensacola at the head of three 
thousand troops, and planted the American standard within that 
neutral town. In this that bold and fearless trait of his character 
is fully exhibited. Without the consent of this government, and 
against a principle of international law, he not only advances upon 
neutral ground, but occupies it with his own troops, driving out 
the enemy as well as the citizens who openly professed neutrality, 
but who, in fact, were aiding and abetting the English cause. This 
the commanding general knew, and therefore assumed the respon- 
sibility of doing that which seemed to him to be of the utmost im- 
portance, but for which he had not the authority of law. 

In this act also, we find a corresponding measure in the history 
of his great cotemporary in arms, the emperor of the French. At 
Toulon, Napoleon Bonaparte, who was then only a lieutenant of 
artillery, assumed the authority of acting against orders, proclaimed 
by his superiors, and which, in his own language, had he failed, 



240 MONUMENT TO JACKSOxM. 

" would have forfeited his head." Although General Jackson did 
not disobey orders, as was the fact with Bonaparte, still he entered 
a neutral town, relying on his own knowledge that Pensacola had 
forfeited all the rights of neutrality, and in this, he risked his fame 
and reputation, if not his life. In the two cases there is a parallel, 
and shows that a truly great mind is not narrowed down and con- 
fined to those limits with which the law, in all its potency, is 
pleased to circumscribe. There are times when the necessity of the 
crisis (and of which a commanding general should judge), sweeps 
away the barriers which the law has established for ordinary life, as 
though they were but cobwebs, in the place of legal fetters-, and 
there are times, too, when the conduct of a commander could not 
be sustained unless he violated the law. The cases of Toulon and 
Pensacola are in point; and, although the responsibility be great, 
still the stretch of mind, and the depth of intellect, must fathom it. 
What, pray, would have been the condition of the city of New 
Orleans, had not the bold and original mind of Andrew Jackson 
declared the civil authorities usurped to the military — declared 
martial law to be in force? Rapine and murder would have strode 
through the streets of that fair city unmasked. The licentiousness 
of a brutal soldiery would have been surfeited to excess, and which 
was the daily boast and conversation within the British camp. 
Fire and the sword would have finished the consummation of a 
plan, at the rehearsal of the details of which, the enlightened mind 
stands back overwhelmed, and stricken with awe ! Who, at this 
day, will say that Andrew Jackson violated the law by his disre- 
garding the law 1 A city, a portion, at least, of whose population, 
was disaffected to the American cause, and who were constantly 
throwing obstacles in the way to its defence — the legislature of 
Louisiana in session — the commanding general makes application 
to it to suspend the habeas corpus ; they deliberate, but they do not 
act, and while in this state of suspense, and the momentary dangers 
which threatened, the intrepid and brave general declares that done 
which the civil authorities either had not the nerve to carry out, or 
the will to execute! His troops become free from the civil process 
— the property of the citizens at his disposal — the ground a military 
camp, and under military law. He at once proceeds to put the 
city and the country in a state of defence, and the result not only 
justifies the measure, but sanctions the precedent. Here the com- 
mander went in opposition to the law, but by doing so he saved a 
large city ; property from plunder, virtue from beastly assault, and 
conferred illimitable blessings upon its people; and, although a fine 
of one thousand dollars was imposed upon him, in reference to his 
course at New Orleans, a grateful country has refunded that sum, 
with interest from the time it was imposed, which act, proceeding 
from the legislative council of the land, shows how and in what 



241 

light it was censured. That instead of being worthy of the sen- 
tence, he was entitled to the commendation and approval of all. 

But I come now to speak of the battle of New Orleans. After 
the British forces had been expelled from Florida, the next move 
was to be upon New Orleans. Sir Edward Packenham being fully- 
apprised of some disaffection there ; and also knowing, that this 
post, once obtained, he would hold in his hand the great key to the 
whole of our western and south-western territory — and that the 
possession of the city would be of immense importance to his army 
and his king. 

To this place, General Jackson repaired at the head of an army 
of some two thousand men, which, on the memorable Sth, was aug- 
mented to the number of some four thousand — while the force under 
Sir Edward Packenham amounted to nine thousand! The whole 
plan for the arrangement of this battle, furnishes proof of the 
master mind of the great architect who projected it. The city 
was put in a state of defence by fortifying the approaches to it, 
and when he ascertained the dangers which threatened within, de- 
clared, as I have already said — martial law — and, although there 
had been some brushes between the contending armies, the Sth oi 
January was the day on which the great issue was to be decided. 
To prepare for this, entrenchments were made to secure the Ameri- 
cans from the British fire. On the Sth, the British advanced in 
two columns under Sir Edward Packenham, and in consequence of 
the heavy fog at the time, they came within a short distance of the 
American lines ; when they were discovered, " a terrible and un- 
ceasing fire kept them back, and Packenham fell mortally wounded." 
The British columns were again and again led up to the breastwork, 
and as often mowed down by the constant vollies of the American 
soldiers. Finding the charge to be against an invincible barrier, and 
that the only result was an awful destruction of human life, they 
fled, leaving three thousand of the flower of the British army upon 
the field ofcarnag-e and blood. The loss of the Americans in this 
battle was " thirteen !" 

Taking into consideration the comparative strength of the two 
armies, and the comparative loss — there is no battle on the recorded 
page of history that will compare with this. It was this battle that 
crowned the military career of Andrew Jackson ! It was this battle 
that gave him a fame and reputation imperishable in all future time. 
And now that his name and his acts have become the property of 
his country, the voice of emulation and discord is hushed for ever 
— that full justice will be done the man, which may have been 
heretofore partially withheld. His conduct as a soldier on the 
field of New Orleans, entitles him to a place in no way inferior to 
the best general of the age. The memory of that battle will be 
perpetual. It will live for ever — so long as the great father of 
21 



242 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

waters shall continue to roll on his turbid billows to the ocean — the 
field of New Orleans, which rests upon his banks, will be trans- 
mitted from generation to generation — if letters are forgotten, and 
history buried in the dark caves of oblivion, tradition will do the 
work ; and alongside of Yorktown, and Monmouth, and Bunker 
Hill — Waterloo, and Austerlitz, and Jena — Marathon and Thermo- 
pylae ; it will go down to the latest posterity. In our own history, 
it will be a memorable spot — a lasting monument to the skill and 
bravery of the generals, who, on that day, added new honours to 
the American cause, and a bright example for the imitation of the 
American soldier, who, in days to come, may have occasion to draw 
his sword in vindication of the nation's honour. 

To Jackson's fame, the honour of two successful wars may be 
added. Few, indeed, have had the same duties to perform in the 
service of their country — and none have discharged them with 
more personal credit to themselves and to the nation. He has 
never had the charge of cowardice imputed to him in times of 
highest political strife — he has never been charged with an ambition 
which was irreconcileable with the best interests of his country. 
Like the immortal Washington, when he had finished the work of 
doing battle for the republic, he retired to the scenes of private 
and "domestic life, until called on by the people to act in a more 
exalted sphere. It has never been imputed to him, that any other 
motive impelled him, than an honest and patriotic desire to serve 
the sacred cause of freedom — to maintain and perpetuate those 
principles of government, which had their origin in the dawn of 
the Revolution. Honest, patriotic, brave— he was ever ready to 
draw the sword from the scabbard when duty called him, and as 
willing to return it when the day of duty was done. The fame of 
the soldier, which, in his case, was exalted, was never used for 
purposes of personal aggrandizement, or popular promotion. Gene- 
rous to a fault, courteous and agreeable, he gained with the soldiery 
an influence, which, with an evil mind, he could have converted 
to the lasting injury of his country. He shared with them, their 
wants and privations — was a friend — their companion — in a word, 
their regard and affection for him were unbounded. He was the 
idol of the camp. 

Thus much of General Andrew Jackson as a soldier. Allow 
me now to turn your attention to him as a statesman. For with 
him the historian will have quite as much to do in this character 
as the one which I have already dwelt upon at some length. 
Indeed, it is a remarkable feature in the management of our go- 
vernment, that from the very time " the experiment" was put in 
motion — that the men who fought our battles have been the favour- 
ites among the masses, and have almost invariably been rewarded 
by elections to posts of honour and trust. Of the American presi- 



Wright's eulogy. 24-3 

dents, three of them have been distinguished military men ; and 
men, too, who seemed to have enjoyed the confidence of the peo- 
ple to a greater extent than the others. Washington was unani- 
mously elected by the people ; ;md subsequently Jackson and Har- 
rison by immense majorities. If a digression be pardonable, permit 
me to say, that under our system, where the will of the majority is 
the fundamental law, I have seldom thought, if in fact ever, that 
the popular voice, when fairly ascertained, was incorrect. The 
masses of the people are not generally excitable, they take time for 
consideration and reflection, and under our laws of education, the 
result the public mind arrives at is very generally, if not always, 
correct. Where the people have the power they seldom fail to re- 
ward the faithful public servant. And this very circumstance is 
an inducement that presents itself to the mind of the youth of our 
country — and these examples to which I have already referred, 
prove the position, that republics are not ungrateful. There may, 
no doubt, be individual cases, where the people have been deceived. 
There are demagogues now, and there will be, so long as there is 
vitality in men or governments. But when they are found out, 
you have never failed to notice that they are scouted out of the 
paths of honest men, and become the subject of manly contempt 
and popular abhorrence. Even among the chosen twelve, there 
was one Judas, who was ever making protestations of friendship, 
and desiring, by his fawning acts and conduct, to be considered as 
the chief of apostles. So it is now in the civil and political rela- 
tions of men. 

The career of Andrew Jackson, in a civil capacity, has been one 
of remarkable success, and although some of his measures, while 
president of the United States, have been and will continue to be 
subjects of political difference among party men ; still, I think all, 
at this day, will ascribe honesty of purpose, and a desire on his part 
to serve the country, in what he regarded the most wholesome mea- 
sures, however much they may differ in opinion with those who 
profess to be governed by the same political creed. And a great 
proportion of the leading and prominent points of his administra- 
tion met the hearty approval and concurrence of the whole Ameri- 
can people. 

Ordinarily, the hard and severe school of the soldier is not the 
proper place to learn the principles, as well as manners, that make 
the best qualifications for the statesman. There usually is a severi- 
ty of discipline, and an impetuosity of character imparted in the 
bold and rugged manoeuvres of war, which are not among the re- 
commendations that make up the accomplished civilian. There is, 
too, contracted, from long and continued command, a tendency to 
arrogance, and a self-esteem and personal importance that are also out 
of place in the cabinet of state. From all of these the good sense 



o 



44 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

and strong mind of Andrew Jackson entirely relieved him. In the 
discharge of his duties he was not only agreeable, but remarkably 
complaisant. He was bold and original in his designs, but not ar- 
rogant ; and although decided and firm, he proved that his premises 
were the result of reason and thought, and not of arbitrary will 
and perverseness. Strong and fervent attachment to his friends, 
sometimes brought down upon him the censure of those who were 
less fortunate. But if there be any trait in the human character 
which recommends itself as the peculiar object of praise and com- 
mendation, it is the conduct of the man who knows how to appre- 
ciate an invaluable friend, and knowing so, has the magnanimity to 
acknowledge it in a suitable and appropriate way. The whole 
course of the life of Andrew Jackson is a rife example and a bold 
and prominent testimony to the fact that his friendship was endu- 
ring, and that no man ever had cause to censure him even of for- 
getfulness, who had enjoyed his confidence and good opinion. 
With the man possessing such a trait of character you can bury up 
an ocean of faults. It is this that ennobles the human mind, and 
a desertion of it sinks the possessor to the creature whose only es- 
timate of personal worth is added up and multiplied into pounds, 
shillings and pence! Borne into power by the strong feelings and 
the affections of the people, the millions who live by dint of hard 
labour and continual industry — the great aim and object of the pre- 
sident seemed to be to devise the best means during his administra- 
tion to serve the people — emphatically the people ; to pursue that 
course of policy which would confer the "greatest good upon the 
greatest number ;." and no president ever seemed to have so deep at 
heart the object of providing for the masses by proper and judicious 
legislation to the same extent. This spirit runs through all his 
messages and state-papers, and with him it was a theme of constant 
remark. Neither was it the offspring of a mean and selfish design. 

Accustomed to share the coarse food with the commonest soldier, 
and lay side by side with him in the tempest and the storm, he not 
only learned to feel for men in the lower walks of life, but to enter 
most keenly into their wants, and devise means for their protection 
and happiness. Andrew Jackson was the friend of the poor man. 
He was so from the generous impulse of his heart, not from a sinis- 
ter design, and out of this feeling mainly, he advanced those no- 
tions with regard to a solid currency which have for a series of 
years agitated the country. 

As this, however, is neither the time nor the place to speak of 
the policy of this and other prominent measures, about which there 
may be, and is a difference of opinion, my audience will excuse 
me in alluding to them for the purpose of showing the design with 
which their author and originator brought them forward. Through 
honesty of purpose none, I think, will deny. But while here and 



Wright's eulogy. 245 

there may be a state measure about which political men may cavil, 
let me refer to the question of French indemnity, and I hazard the 
assertion, that from the pine clad hills of Maine, to the sands and 
everglades of sun-burned Florida, there is but one opinion in the 
public mind. All must agree in sentiment, that the tone of the 
president on this occasion was that of a high and lofty statesman. 
The stern and decided manner of the executive silenced opposition, 
and a word brought to final conclusion a subject, in which half of 
the nation saw the spark of war. 

With him there was no temporising policy ; prompt, efficient, 
and decided, he first thoroughly examined, and then acted with 
that peculiar firmness which ever characterized the man on the 
field amidst the din of arms and the deadly embrace of foes, or in 
the council hall of his country. 

His views, too, on the great question of the construction of the 
constitution, were the result of an anxious desire to protect the 
states in their sovereign capacity, and prevent the encroachment of 
the general government, and in this, secure individual rights and 
privileges. A desire that sought out the means of individual good, 
and the welfare of the states. This manifestation, openly and 
privately exhibited to serve the great cause of popular government, 
endeared the man as much to the masses, as driving the foot of in- 
vasion from our soil ; and now that the head of the hero and states- 
man is laid low, I feel as though, having undertaken to speak his 
eulogy, I would be derelict in my duty to the dead, as well as 
the living, were I not to speak openly, and in defence of the cha- 
racter of this man, who has commanded the public eye, and public 
attention, for more than half a century. It is seldom, indeed, the 
country goes into mourning at the decease of her sons. Now and 
then, the death of a distinguished and illustrious man produces a 
universal shock, and reaches the hearts of the whole people, but 
it is indeed seldom. There are few men, who, by their public 
acts and private virtues, can become familiar to twenty millions 
of inhabitants. Within the limits of our own knowledge, few and 
far between, have been the occasions that have thrown the black 
pall of grief over the whole land. In the enumeration of the 
deaths of Washington, Adams, Jefferson, La Fayette, Harrison, and 
Jackson, we have them all. All told in this brief catalogue. 
The feeling of deep regret, and the public sorrow in each case, 
showed that these patriots had a deep hold on the affections not 
only of the American people, but through the civilized world, 
wherever a bosom throbbed for universal freedom. What a proud 
and enviable distinction ! What a rich and glorious renown ! The 
lives of these glorious men have been the theme of history, and 
the inspiration of song, the models after which the most profound 
statesmen of Europe have copied, and copied largely. Think you 
21* 



246 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

not that the most humble devotee at liberty's shrine in the isles of 
Greece, down-trodden, forsaken, obliterated Poland, or the Alpine 
hills of frozen Switzerland, has not heard of the acts and deeds of 
these Anglo-Americans — has not studied their creed with the same 
devotion he did the book of his religion ! 

Nor has their fame been confined to the pale of civilized life — ■ 
it has entered the tents of savage and barbarous hordes: it has rung 
in the ear of the swarth}' Moor, the black and ill-favoured African, 
and the despised and beastly inhabitant of the South Sea Islands. 
To their fame, it is not in the power of man, civilized or barbarous, 
to set up a barrier ; it pervades the space of " the great globe 
itself," and is eternal as the vast and heaving ocean! 

But the history of Andrew Jackson establishes two points beyond 
disputation. The first, that true merit, sooner or later, meets a 
suitable reward — the second, that the oft-repeated charge that re- 
publics do not reward men who have served their country faithfully, 
is an idle and empty allegation, meaning nothing. 

We all know the fact that the distinguished individuals I have 
named, enjoyed the principal posts of honour and trust in the Union, 
and that they have been the unsought and unsolicited offering of a 
grateful people. Their services in the cabinet and in the field, 
have, time and time again, been rewarded by all those tokens of the 
popular will, which could satisfy the largest and greatest ambition. 
It was the fortune of Jackson to go through all the inferior 
grades in the councils of state, to the exalted post of president of 
the Union — and it was all gratuitous — conferred upon the man be- 
cause of his merits and deserving. The duties, too, he discharged 
with an eye single to the prosperity and happiness of the people. 

Connected with his life and history, there is a moral lesson, im- 
posing as it is grand. To the youth of the country, it is a volume 
written in letters of gold, and establishes a precedent for imitation, 
that is beyond price. It points to the great highway of fame and 
distinction — it tells him that the man who honestly serves his 
country, in whatever position it may be his fortune to be cast, will 
as surely bring down upon him the gratitude of that country, as the 
fulfilment of prophecy. In this land of equal rights, the humblest 
youth, with honesty, talents, and perseverance to recommend him, 
enjoys the same opportunities with the high-born and the wealthy, 
for political honours. The first blow at Lexington, in the revo- 
lutionary struggle, not only knocked to atoms the bonds and fetters 
of Great Britain, but also all the orders and titles of nobility — 
levelled the political condition of the American colonies to a com- 
mon standard, and made merit, in the place of hereditary fortune, 
the republican test. Who would have even conjectured, at that 
early day, that a young man of the tender age of fourteen years, a 
captive in the British camp, but who had the courage and bravery, 



Wright's eulogy. 247 

unarmed, to face the same weapon which had already drank the 
blood of an only brother, rather than stoop to the menial service of 
becoming the boot-black of an English officer — would be at the 
head of the grandest government on the face of the earth ? An 
orphan child, unprotected, without friends, without influence. It 
is this trait in the features of a popular government, that truly makes 
it the grandest in the world. In following the course of that 
young man, we find him, when the war is over, pursuing the pro- 
fession of law — representing his state in the nation's councils — upon 
the bench — again, at the head of the American troops, pushing on 
to glorious victory — and finally, the chief executive officer of the 
United States of America. What a theme for contemplation — 
what a subject for thought! Let the young man who is ambitious 
for durable fame, read and reflect upon the noble example which 
he will find in the life of Andrew Jackson. Let him believe that 
the gigantic obstacles that lie between him and the summit of his 
hopes and anticipations, will vanish like snow-flakes beneath the 
rays of the sun, by labour — temperance — perseverance, and virtue. 

There is no ordinary obstacle that can thwart or defeat a well- 
directed and prudent ambition — momentary it may be, but the 
courage and determination of the human heart are not easily foiled, 
and when a point is fixed in the distance, it is almost invariably 
attained. The subject of our discourse is full proof of the position, 
and the experience of every day's life confirms it. 

The American presidents were all " self-made men" — by perse- 
verance, they were elevated to a point of political prominence, 
which is above and beyond all others. Let the proud motto of our 
flag be engraved upon the heart of the American youth : " Virtue, 
Liberty, and Independence," and the perpetuity of that government, 
which our ancestors regarded as an " experiment," will be certain. 
And the illustrious hero of New Orleans, by his acts and deeds — 
by his habits and conduct, has been among the foremost of those 
who have given a character and tone to our country, that have 
placed her high upon the great scroll of nations. Let those who 
would share his honours, imitate his example. 

But the voice of wisdom, and patriotism, and advice, from the 
Hermitage, is hushed — hushed in the deep silence that pervades 
the grave. That voice which was so powerful and overruling in 
the affairs of state, has ceased, and the pulse of that heart, which 
beat quick and strong amidst the shouts of victory on the plains of 
Orleans, has also ceased for ever. 

Full of years, full of honours, and full of gratitude to the great 
Father of the Universe, the sage has gone to test the realities of 
that holy religion, without which, the pomp and pageantry of this 
world is but the dust of the balance ; which was his solace upon 
earth, and the hope of a glorious inheritance in Heaven — 



248 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

"How sleep the brave who eink to rest 
With all iheir country's wishes blest!" 

The great valley of the Mississippi contains his sepulchre. That 
vast region, destined to become the seat of populated millions, con- 
tains his funeral pile. Think you not that the consecrated ground 
that covers the bones of the hero will not become a modern Mecca, 
where the foot of the pilgrim will pause on his route to his new 
home in the far and boundless West, and his eye drop a tear upon 
the tomb of the brave \ His warm heart will gush with sympathies 
once kindred with the inanimate dust that lies beneath it. Vir- 
ginia has her Mount Vernon, and her Monticello ; New England is 
the repository of the remains of the compeers of Washington and 
Jefferson ; Tennessee has her Hermitage! — as if the decrees of fate 
had ordained that the ashes of the immortal founders of this giant 
government should commingle with the soil that drank the first 
blood of the Revolution, as well as that of our second independence. 
Let this be the symbol of the mystic tie that shall bind us stronger 
and stronger together in the union of our confederation. That the 
wayward, the weak, the vacillating, in whichever part of the land 
he shall be, may be brought to a sense of duty to the cause of 
popular right, by casting his eye over the registered marble that 
covers the last relics of the mighty dead. Think ye that the iron 
nerve of treason could remain unsubdued at the base of the mauso- 
leum of Washington, or Adams, or Jefferson, or Jackson 1 Nay ! 
at such a spectacle, if there be a second Arnold, his brain would 
reel to and fro, as did that of the Babylonian monarch at the feast 
when the solitary finger upon the wall wrote the awful characters 
of his destiny. 

We have paid this day, the last solemn rites in honourable testi- 
mony of the distinguished man whose death brought us together. 
To you, fellow-citizens, who have joined in the exercises of this 
occasion, allow me, if it be not arrogance, to thank you in the 
name of the friends of the departed hero and statesman — in the 
name of the people of the Union — and in the name of every human 
creature whose heart throbs for universal freedom throughout the 
civilized world. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT RICHMOND, VA, JUNE 28, 1845, 



BY 



ANDREW STEVENSON, Esq. 



To consecrate the memory of illustrious men — to record their 
actions and celebrate their praise, has been the laudable usage of 
all ages, and the grateful duty of every people. 

The rudest nations have thus dispensed the rewards and motives 
of virtue, whilst the arts and sciences of polished society have 
contributed their noblest efforts to this, their best and highest appli- 
cation. 

Exalted virtue and public services emphatically demand the con- 
fidence and gratitude of freemen. It is this which not only infuses 
into free government its public spirit, but cherishes emulation and 
exalts patriotism. To great abilities, it is an incentive, and brings 
them into action ; to the good and useful, in whatever degree, it 
intimates and yields encouragement ! Hence, that strong desire, 
which is inseparable from our nature, to live after death: to em- 
body our names in the annals of our country, and descend to pos- 
terity with the admiration of the wise and the blessings of the 
virtuous. And it is this love of fame, when subordinate to the 
general good of mankind, that is inseparable from those who are 
truly great ! Singularly impressive in this respect were some of 
the customs of the most highly improved nations of antiquity. 

The Egyptian*, besides celebrating the names and actions of 
their great and good men, embalmed their bodies, that they might 
long be kept before the public view as examples of virtue, and 
though dead, yet speaking. If there were, then, no other reasons 
for honouring the dead, these would be more than sufficient. 

But there is another obligation of a still higher moment. Great 
virtues, like great men, are the offspring of great occasions; and 
the doctrines of our holy religion teach, that eminently great men 
are qualified for work, by an overruling and wise Providence — and 
that, in honouring them, we honour Him! 

(249) 



250 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Influenced by these sentiments and those usages, rendered holy 
by the best feelings of our nature, we have assembled this day to 
perform one of the highest and most solemn duties which the living 
owe to the dead ! And can there, under Heaven, be a more inte- 
resting spectacle, or one more deeply touching to the human heart, 
than that of a whole nation of freemen rising up as one man, and 
with one mind, to do honour to the memory of an illustrious and 
beloved fellow-citizen, by public demonstrations of sorrow and so- 
lemn acts of devotion to God ! This crowded and solemn assem- 
bly ; these banners which surround this sacred desk ;* the gloom 
which has overspread our whole country, like a visitation of dark- 
ness, and struck a pang into the bosom of every American patriot, 
proclaim an event — a grief — of no ordinary character. They an- 
nounce to us, that the aged and venerable patriot of the Hermitage, 
has at last gone down to the tomb, in the ripeness of age, crowned 
with the honours and loaded with the benedictions of a beloved 
country ! They announce to us the solemn truth, that America 
has lost its greatest benefactor and friend ; earth one of its noblest 
spirits ; and the world one of its greatest men ! 

In coming to do honour to such a man; one who, in the lan- 
guage of our own Jefferson, " had filled the measure of his coun- 
try's glory," let us show that we know the difference between the 
ostentatious pomp and mockery of grief, and that ardent and spon- 
taneous affection with which a free and grateful people can cherish 
and honour the memory of an illustrious patriot : let us come to it 
with those feelings of gratitude and admiration which belong to the 
character of American freemen, and which are now poured out in 
every corner of our land ! Let us do it, moreover, uninfluenced 
by party or political feeling. Whatever the spirit of party may 
be in the ardour of our political contests, here it should not enter! 
Although, in life, it spares neither elevation nor humility, but goes 
forth regardless of everything but its own gratification, high-minded 
and liberal men will not consent that it shall poison all the charities 
of social life, much less invade the sanctity of the tomb! 

Let us not suffer the week-day paltriness of life to profane the 
sacredness of this occasion, or chill its solemnities. Let it not be 
said, that we refused to lay upon the altar of our country, and on 
the graves of its heroes and patriots, our party bickerings and strifes. 

Who is there that will withhold from the patriot the gratitude 
due from the patriot's heart ? What free and proud Virginian — 
what generous American is here, who, like the Carthaginian of 
old, is prepared, not only to bring his enmities and his children to 
the altar of his country, but to the very graves of its benefactors, 
and there swear the oath of undying hate ? None ! — I trust, none ! 

* Mr. S. spoke from the pulpit of the Old Baptist Church. 



Stevenson's eulogy. 251 

Charity to ourselves, gratitude to the illustrious dead, and love 
of country — these, these are the feelings which belong to this oc- 
casion. 

And you, too, my fair and beloved countrywomen, whose first 
honour is in the gentleness of your nature, will you not unite your 
sympathies and tears over the grave of that man, who, above all 
others, was the most devoted friend and admirer, might I not say 
romantic, that woman ever had ? 

Who so prompt to defend and protect her rights, or guard her 
from injury and insult ! 

Who ever cherished or exalted more the purity of the domestic 
and social virtues, so infinitely more important to human happiness 
than all others ? Whose valour was it that protected our mothers, 
and wives, and daughters from the savage tomahawk, and a licen- 
tious soldiery, and one of our finest cities, with its " Beauty and 
booty," from ruthless invaders? 

Whose, but Andrew Jackson's? 

And will you not act with the firmness which becomes the wives 
and daughters of freemen, and by your example invigorate the 
spirit of patriotism in your countrymen ? From the spirit which 
pervades this assembly, I anticipate your answer. 

Come, then, and mingle your sympathies with those of your 
country, and pour out your tears over the grave of this great and 
good man. 

And here in this temple, dedicated to the living God — here, over 
the ashes of an illustrious and beloved patriot, I invoke the spirit 
of peace and patriotism to shed around its holy calm, refreshing 
alike to the feelings and the intellect. 

In consenting to become your organ on this occasion, I am not 
only sensible of the difficulty and delicacy of the undertaking, but 
I feel that your too partial choice has devolved on me the perform- 
ance of a duty, to which powers, much higher than any I possess, 
would alone be equal. 

For, if it be true, that next to the performance of great actions, 
is the difficulty of representing them, who shall attempt to deline- 
ate justly the character of a man that was the type of everything 
chivalrous in valour, generous in honour, and pure in patriotism, 
or, in what language, tell the story of that eventful life, whose 
every action was worthy of praise 1 

To confer the just meed of eulogy on a character so remarkable 
— to entwine the blended glories of the hero and statesman, and 
with them to mingle the milder radiance of religion and morality, 
would seem, indeed, to require little less than an inspiration, not 
only of the feelings and sentiments which pervade the hearts of 
millions of freemen throughout our whole country, but of those 



252 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

opinions which his great virtues and character have so strongly and 
deeply impressed upon the world : 

Of legislators, in whose labours and honours he was associated 
by all that was useful and dignified : 

Of armies, to whom he was endeared by every obligation of gra- 
titude and glory : 

Of a people, by whom he was regarded as their protector and 
benefactor : 

Of ministers of our holy religion, by whom he was beloved and 
admired : 

Of enemies in war, by whom he was alike dreaded and revered : 

And of the wise, and just, and generous of all nations, of whom 
he was an ornament and example. 

This is indeed a high duty, and I would to God, it could have 
passed into other hands, more worthy and competent to do it justice. 
But you have determined otherwise, and in yielding to your wishes, 
as I readily do, I feel that I am but performing a sacred duty ; one 
that I owe to you ; to the mrmory of the illustrious man whose 
death we commemorate, and to myself. And, although I know 
that private friendships are not fit topics for such occasions, yet it 
would be difficult, standing in the relations that I did for so many 
years, to this great man, and bound to him by so many ties, not to 
be allowed to mix up with higher motives, those of a more humble 
and individual character. The incense of public praise will not 
ascend with the less grateful odour, for being mingled with the 
aspirations of individual gratitude. 

The suffrages, perhaps the prejudices of mankind, have concurred, 
with what propriety,! shall not stop to inquire, in assigning to the 
profession of arms, the first station in the ranks of glory. On this 
occasion, the decision can be of no importance. He, whose me- 
mory we now honour, was alike pre-eminent in peace and war; in 
the cabinet and the field ; and the olive and the laurel have equally 
contributed their honours, to form the chaplet of his great renown. 
It is, therefore, only in the order of his distinguished services, that 
I shall first ask your attention to his military career, noticing, how- 
ever, very briefly, before I do so, some circumstances connected 
with the history of his early life. 

The birth, parentage, and early portions of General Jackson's 
life, belong to history. We are here to commemorate the character 
of the hero, statesman, and patriot. I shall say nothing, therefore, 
of his ancestors. Virtue and greatness have no need of birth. 
Born a simple citizen, of poor, but respectable parents, he became 
great by no other means than the energy of his own character, and 
being, as he seems to have been, the favourite of nature and Hea- 
ven ! Had he been born to wealth and influence, he might probably 
have lived and died, an obscure and ordinary man ! 



Stevenson's eulogy. 253 

Severe discipline and poverty, inured him, in early life, to great 
hardship and industry ; and it has been justly said of him, that he 
seems to have been an orphan from the plough to the presidency. 
He must, therefore, be regarded as the architect of his own fame 
and fortunes ! Although too young to have taken any distinguished 
part in lighting up the beacon fires of our glorious Revolution, or 
unfurling the banner of liberty with our revolutionary heroes and 
patriots, the close of that memorable struggle found him, though a 
boy of only fourteen, in arms in the corps of the gallant Davie, 
and soon afterwards, with a brother, a prisoner in Camden ; where 
he underwent severe hardships and suffering, and was finally, at the 
intercession of his mother, liberated by an exchange of prisoners. 

These early scenes of our Revolution, were not lost upon such a 
mind as Jackson's. The bravery and devotion of our fathers ; their 
stern determination to meet coming events, and vigorous prepara- 
tion to meet them successfully : the great battles which had been 
fought ; the services and sacrifices which had been made ; the re- 
nowned men of those times, both in the field and the cabinet, and 
the imperishable glory they achieved — were ever fresh in his re- 
collection, and contributed mainly to form, in after times, the bent 
and character of his great mind. They made an impression on him, 
whicn ceased only with his last breath, and were the examples 
that stimulated his patriotism, and formed his own heroic heart. 

He drank, and deeply too, at the pure fountain of the Revo- 
lution. From his boyhood, he was distinguished by many of 
those noble traits of character, which marked his progress through 
life. There was an openness, a simplicity, a good faith, an affection- 
ate ardour, an elevation of soul, with an invincible physical and 
moral courage, and boldness, and love of truth, which irresistibly 
made way to the hearts of all who nearly approached him, and 
rendered him the object, through life, of a zealous and enthusiastic 
attachment almost unexampled. These qualities adhered to him 
throughout his eventful life, and signally marked, as you will see, 
its close. 

It is said, that in his youth, he had no relish for literary and 
scientific pursuits. This is, no doubt, true. His education was 
certainly nothing more than that which was afforded in those days 
to the children of the poorer classes, and was confined principally 
to the rudiments of the English, and the lower and practical 
branches of mathematics. Regular and classical education has been 
thought, by some distinguished men, to be unfavourable to great 
vigour and originality of the understanding ; and that, like civiliza- 
tion, whilst it made society more interesting and agreeable, yet, at 
the same time, it levelled the distinctions of nature. That whilst 
it strengthened and assisted the feeble, it was calculated to deprive 
the strong of their triumph, and beat down the hopes of the 
22 



254 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

aspiring. Be this as it may, truth requires us to say, that the mind 
of Andrew Jackson escaped the training and dialectics of the 
schools, and so far, at least, as our distinguished countryman, John 
Randolph, once said, " it had certainly fair play." 

His writings were plain and pointed, made up, generally, of short 
sentences, but characterized by admirable good sense, great clear- 
ness and solidity, and a manly fortitude of thought, firm and un- 
shrinking. 

Without saying anything to the disparagement of scholarship or 
science, he had no claims to the character of a scholar or man of 
science, much less to that of an orator or rhetorician. Through 
life, he was fond of reading history and the Bible, the latter of 
which was his constant friend and companion. You cannot but 
have been struck with his declaration on this subject, a few hours 
before his death — "That the Bible was the bulwark of our free in- 
stitutions, and the comforter of our present and future safety." 

From youth to old age, he seems to have had a just estimation of 
his own great mental powers and natural resources, and hence, 
never felt 

" How hard it was to climb 

The steep, where Fame's proud temple shines afar." 

Having determined to devote himself to the profession of the 
law, he removed from South to North Carolina, and under the aus- 
pices of Judge McCay, and Colonel Stokes, read law, and obtained 
a license to practice ; and as a proof of the estimation in which he 
was then held, he received, from the government of North Carolina, 
the appointment of solicitor for the western part of that state, 
being the present state of Tennessee. 

At the age of twenty-two, General Jackson crossed the moun- 
tains for the purpose of discharging the duties imposed on him by 
this appointment, and making the West his permanent home. 
Tennessee was of course then a wilderness, and denominated the 
" Bloody Land." Happy was it for this patriotic state, that such 
was the destiny of this great man ! 

He resided there until she became a state, and soon ranked among 
her most distinguished men, and filled, at different periods, most of 
the high offices of the state, civil and military. 

He was a member of her convention, and had a large share in 
forming her constitution. He was her first representative in the 
House of Representatives of the United States, and soon afterwards 
became her senator in Congress. He was then translated from the 
national councils, and became a judge of the Supreme Court of 
Tennessee, which office he held for some years, and then resigned, 
to devote himself to military pursuits and studies, and soon rose to 
the rank of major-general of militia. At a later period, he was 
again in the Senate of the United States, and only retired from it 



Stevenson's eulogy. 255 

when nominated for the presidency. And well may the people of 
Tennessee regard him as their especial benefactor and friend. He 
grew up with that state from her infancy ; gloried in her expan- 
sion and destiny ; and to her government and people devoted his 
affections and his life. And the larger portion, both of Tennessee 
and the adjoining country, conquered by his sword, is filled with 
the monuments of his valour and skill. 

So much for this early portion of his life : we will now pass to 
a brief notice of his military character and services. And, in the 
first place, I will take occasion to say, that there are few men, 
probably, who have ever lived, more justly entitled to the charac- 
ter of warrior — a great warrior, than Andrew Jackson. Indeed, 
the very name of Jackson irresistibly carries to the mind of every 
American the impression of a great military commander, and as 
such, he must ever stand high amongst the highest on earth. Who 
is there that ever combined in a greater degree all the distinguish- 
ing and endearing qualities of openness of heart ; the manliness of 
pride; the benevolence of feeling, and that chivalrous and daring 
courage which the imagination ascribes to the perfection of a great 
warrior, than General Jackson, excepting always the father of his 
country'? Or who is there that has ever stamped the impression 
of his military genius and virtues more strongly or more deeply 
upon his own times'? 

Besides, there was another quality which distinguished him as a 
commander, over most other men; and that was, a coolness and 
presence of mind, and entire self-possession, never so great as in 
the midst of danger and the heat of battle, and which nothing 
could baffle or disturb. This was strongly evinced in boyhood, and 
marked his character through life. Among numerous occurrences 
in illustration of this, let me mention one, which occurred during 
the battle of New Orleans, and which I had from one of his aids, 
who was present : A ball passed very near him, in the heat of bat- 
tle, and he bowed his head; and said to one of the aids nearest him, 
that it was not customary with him to salute in battle the balls en 
passant, but as the one which had just gone by was the first Bri- 
tish ball that he had particularly noticed, he could not do less than 
pay his respects to it. How characteristic of the man and the hero ! 

The first important services rendered by General Jackson, in a 
military capacity, were those in our early and bloody Indian wars, 
in the north and south-west. 

Whilst Tennessee was a territory, and after her admission into 
the Union, the frequent depredations and incursions of the neigh- 
bouring tribes of savages, made it necessary that the whole coun- 
try should be under arms. In all these engagements with the In- 
dians, he was ever amongst the most active and foremost, and dis- 
played always great energy and valour. It gave him a high 



256 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



military standing at that early day in Tennessee, which continued 
steadily to increase. This state of" things, with little intermission, 
continued down to the period of the war in 1812, with Great Bri- 
tain. Soon after it was declared, the Creek Indians became allies 
of the enemy ; and perpetrated some of the most signal and dread- 
ful massacres that ever disgraced humanity. The state of Tennes- 
see immediately called into the field some three or four thousand 
of her militia, and placed them under the command of Jackson. 
The first great battle was that of Talladega, in which the Creeks 
were defeated with great slaughter: and afterwards followed, those 
of Emuckfaw and the Horse Shoe. These victories annihilated a 
nation that had, for twenty years and more, kept our frontiers in 
continual dread of massacre and bloodshed, and gave peace to that 
part of the country. They attracted the notice of the general go- 
vernment, and General Jackson received, unsolicited, the appoint- 
ment of a major-general in the United States service. 

In appreciating the importance and difficulties of this peculiar 
service, we must look to the circumstances under which they were 
performed, and the hardships and trials that were to be undergone, 
amidst the horrors of desolation and death. It was a matter of no 
trilling importance, for a man, like Jackson, to quit his home and 
fireside, to become an inhabitant of a wilderness, surrounded by 
savage tribes and savage men, to prosecute, in the midst of blood 
and carnage, a savage war. Those who have never traced the foot- 
steps of the savage by desolation and blood ; who have never heard 
his midnight yell and war-whoop ; whose peaceful habitations have 
never been wrapt in flames ; who have had no parent, or wife, or 
child, or friend, massacred or butchered under the scalping-knife 
or tomahawk of the Indian ; who know nothing, and have felt no- 
thing, of the dangers and horrors of a savage warfare — will never 
be able justly to realize the perils and hardships, which this gallant 
man and his hardy warriors had to undergo, in restoring peace to 
the western country. In relation to the particular character and 
importance of these services, we can form no just idea, unless by 
comparison with those of other commanders. If we look back, 
however, to the early history of our Indian wars, and especially 
to the battles fought by Sullivan, after the massacre of Wyoming; 
to those at Point Pleasant, under the gallant Lewis, who there lost 
his life ; or to the more recent ones under General Wayne ; and 
compare them with those of General Jackson, we may then be bet- 
ter able to appreciate his merits and qualifications as a military 
commander, and the services he rendered. The victory alone over 
the Creeks has been regarded as unprecedented in Indian warfare, 
and gave to our country that rich and valuable domain embraced 
within the state of Alabama. These victories would alone have 
stamped him as a great military captain. 



stevenson's eulogy. 257 

But time presses, and I must pass on to that scene of glory which 
awaited him, and which closed the bloody drama of our last war 
with Great Britain. This scene was reserved for Louisiana — gal- 
lant Louisiana ! — that state which had, but a few years before, come 
to us by treaty and alliance, and was now to have an opportunity 
of binding herself to us by her blood. And it was in her bosom, 
that the gallant Jackson was to receive his great reward, and finish 
his career of military glory. 

History and experience teach, that great military powers can 
only be displayed where great exigencies point a field on which to 
act, and that these occasions are the means which conduct men, as 
well as nations, to eminence and glory. 

It was the battle of New Orleans, which was now to afford the 
opportunity for the full display of all those high qualities which 
were to stamp General Jackson as one of the first generals in the 
world, considered either in relation to the battle itself, or the mag- 
nitude of its consequences. 

Whilst the offices of this day, I am aware, do not admit of a re- 
cital, which would include even the leading incidents of this great 
struggle, belonging, as they do, more properly to history and biog- 
raphy ; yet it is needful, in order to appreciate justly the general 
importance of the victory, but especially the vast and varied powers 
of him who achieved it, to glance very briefly at some of the more 
important incidents, and more especially to the situation of the 
country, before and at the time of the battle. 

It will be borne in mind, that Louisiana was yet amongst the 
youngest of our sister states, and formed one of the remotest parts 
of our Union. Its population was small and scattered, and it was 
filled with a coloured population, which required a constant force to 
prevent its becoming a domestic enemy. 

Its remote situation : the pressing dangers on the whole Atlantic 
coast, and at the seat of the national government ; together with 
other causes, had been the means of leaving this part of the country 
destitute of defence, and depending, in a great measure, on its own 
resources. Although accessible by numerous inlets from the sea, 
there were but two fortifications, ill provided, and inadequately 
garrisoned ; and a few gun-boats, the only maritime defence. The 
military force amounted to not more than two incomplete regiments ; 
the militia and volunteers of the city. There were a few cannon, 
and no arms in the arsenal. All intercourse had been cut off with 
the sea, by a blockading squadron of the enemy, and which it was 
known preceded the arrival of a formidable fleet, and an invading 
army of great force. 

This was the perilous and almost defenceless state of New Orleans 
immediately previous to the battle. 

It was at this juncture, that General Jackson was called to defend 
22* 



259 M0NTMENT TO JACKSON. 

this extreme point, with a small force, unpractised in war, and with 
few, or no other resources, than their own spirit, against a proud 
nation, in possession of all the means, and strong with all the sinews 
of war, and able to carry its hostilities against any part of this ex- 
tensive country, which had drawn within its limits the greater por- 
tion of the wealth and industry of the country. When thus sum- 
moned by his country, he did not hesitate ! In an instant he 
resolved ; and his resolutions, let. me tell you, were as firm as the 
decrees of Heaven. His mind once made up, he was impatient of 
counsel or control, as all know who knew him well — and few 
better than myself; and when he felt conscious that he was right, 
and must act, he would proceed, regardless of what might happen, 
and without the slightest dread of consequences ; and never were 
the words of the poet more applicable, than to him — 

" From orbs convulsed, should all the planets fly, 
World crush on world, and ocean mix with sky; 
He, unconcerned, would view the falling whole, 
And still maintain the purpose of his soul." 

He repaired to New Orleans. Great as the difficulties and dan- 
gers were that encompassed it, and which might have appalled the 
stoutest heart, he instantly resolved to surmount them, or perish in 
the attempt. Having taken this lofty stand, he summoned to his 
aid his gallant countrymen, and especially those who had served 
with him in his Indian campaigns : and ; at the first tread of danger, 
the west, and more particularly gallant Kentucky and Tennessee, 
poured forth their sons like legions of armed men I Tennessee 
furnished nearly one-fourth of her physical force. Then it was that 
confidence revived, and the srreat work of preparation began. He 
intermitted no watch against the wakeful foe. He visited the forts, 
organized the forces that were placed under his command, and in- 
stilled into his soldiers confidence in themselves, and ultimate vic- 
tory. He appealed to their passions, their prejudices, and love of 
country. He kindled up a spirit of determined resistance — a lofty 
and unconquerable spirit, and what was more, a contagious spirit, 
which proved terrible to its opposers. He raised money on his 
own credit, roused the people to a sense of their danger, and soon 
filled the ranks of the army by volunteers, drawn from every part 
of the western country. Like our Revolutionary patriots, he did 
not fail to count the cost of the contest. He felt that it was no 
common one in which he was about to engage, and no common 
enemy to whom he was to be opposed. On the contrary, it was a 
contest which was again to put in hazard of the sword the honour 
of our name, and the liberties and glory of our country ! The 
sentiment of ancient patriotism, " never to despair of the common- 
wealth," was deeply rooted in his heart. He consequently always 
went into battle with the spirit of victory! He never admitted 



Stevenson's eulogy. 259 

that he could be conquered, and never was : and the lesson which 
he invariably impressed upon his soldiers was, that the day of bat- 
tle with him was always the day of victory. It was upon his ban- 
ner that 

" Victory, like a dazzling eagle, stood." 

Besides, he was to fight under the same standard that Washington 
had unfurled ; against the same enemy, and in the same glorious 
cause ; with the hearts of his devoted followers, and the spirit of 
their fathers, and how could he fail to conquer? Thus he argued, 
and glorious was the result. I have no disposition, certainly, to 
aggravate the dangers to which the country was exposed, or swell 
its obligation to its defender. But the moment was one of great 
peril and danger, and a problem of vital importance was to be 
solved — what a militia force of freemen against regular armies, 
could do, in defence of their altars and firesides. Besides these 
difficulties, what was the situation of the country elsewhere I Con- 
trast the defence of New Orleans, with the disasters of our arms, 
at other points. There was Hull's disgraceful surrender ! The de- 
feats and massacres of the Raisin, and Miami ! The capture of 
Washington and the conflagration of the capitol ; and a long list 
of depredations and pillage, on the whole of our Atlantic borders, 
by British squadrons. Besides — what was the impression in many 
parts of the country, as to Jackson's defeat, and the fall of New 
Orleans? Will you pardon me for a moment, in referring to one 
or two historical facts, to show what the fears and opinions in cer- 
tain quarters were, at the very moment that the battle was about 
to be fought, and when this great man was standing like a mighty 
colossus in the midst of the sea of dangers, and with the eyes of 
the nation looking to him for succor and safety. 

In one of the gazettes of Washington, (the Republican,) of Janu- 
ary, 1815, it was said: — "Mr. Madison has scarcely raised his 
little finger to preserve New Orleans. The suspicion gains ground, 
that the government is in possession of the official account of the 
capture of that important city." Again : on the 17th of January, 
is the following: "That Mr. Madison will find it convenient, and 
will finally determine to abandon the state of Louisiana, we enter- 
tain no doubt. Let the issue decide whether we do him injustice. 
An inquiry by Congress, into the fall of New Orleans, when the 
intelligence transpires, will fix the blame upon the executive." 
And, again : On the 3d of February, a member of Congress said, 
absolutely, that the government was in possession of information, 
that the British had taken New Orleans. And, in a New York 
gazette, of the 30th of January, after dilating on the terrible mis- 
management of government, in permitting the troops from Ken- 
tucky to go unarmed, it said : "It is the general opinion here, that 
the city of New Orleans mvst fall." 



260 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

I allude to these things, fellow-citizens, in no unkind spirit. 
Far from it. I do it as a part of the history of the times, to show 
what the impressions were as to the danger and difficulty of defend- 
ing New Orleans, and especially its defenceless state, at least in the 
opinion of a portion of the country, and the astonishment which 
must have ensued, when the result of the battle was announced. 
And that such, too, was the calculation of the British government, 
is scarcely matter for doubt. Soon after the close of the war, it 
was stated on authority entitled to credit, and so challenged, to the 
day after the news reached Paris of the capture and conflagration 
of Washington, a member of the French government expressed to 
Lord Castlereagh his doubts as to the fact, on which his lordship 
replied : " Sire, it is true beyond doubt ; and I expect, at this mo- 
ment, that most of the large seaport towns in America are laid in 
ashes — that we are in possession of New Orleans, and have com- 
mand of all the rivers of the Mississippi and the lakes — and that 
the Americans are now little better than prisoners at large in their 
own country !" Thus shadowing forth what might and would pro- 
bably have been the consequences, if indeed Great Britain had 
gained possession of New Orleans, and with it, the command and 
keys of the Mississippi ! It was under these circumstances that 
this great battle was fought — a battle in which, with a little more 
than half the numbers, the Americans were victorious over more 
than twelve thousand of the finest troops that ever appeared on our 
shores — troops that had driven the warriors of France, the con- 
querors of continental Europe, from the pillars of Hercules to the 
Pyrenees. The loss on the side of the British was four generals 
and major-generals, ten colonels, fourteen majors, thirty captains, 
eighty to one hundred lieutenants, and some five or six thousand 
men, killed, wounded and prisoners; while our losses were a few 
officers and one hundred and fifty men, killed, wounded, and missing. 

When we take into consideration the great disparity of loss, and 
the inequality of force in the two armies; the difference in their 
discipline and experience ; the hardships to which the enemy had 
been habituated in more than one quarter of the globe — hardships 
which our troops had for the first time to encounter and overcome ; 
well may this battle be regarded as one of the most extraordinary 
in ancient or modern times. In the long and devastating annals of 
the wars that desolated all Europe, the probability is that there 
never was a more signal victory ; and that such will be the opinion 
of posterity, few, I presume, doubt. Indeed, in after times, it will 
be embellished with all the fictions of poetry and romance. And 
to whom is this victory to be ascribed? 

Spirits of the gallant Coffee and Carroll ! of Villery and Labatut ! 
what say you ? Ye brave men of the West ! who followed the 
footsteps, and witnessed the godlike bravery and devotion of your 



Stevenson's eulogy. 261 

illustrious chief! do not your hearts, big with mighty emotion, re- 
sponsive say — It was Andrew Jackson 1 Yes, it was his mighty 
spirit, and the fruitful and varied resources of his great mind, that 
did this work of death and glory. It was in his dauntless exposure, 
and individual prowess, in the midst and indeed in every part of 
the battle, that we realize all that we read of in heroic stories, of 
the warrior streaming like a meteor through the fight, and working 
wonders by his presence and single arm. It is said of him, and 
truly, that for five nights and days he scarcely slept, and when he 
did, it was by snatches and in his clothes — that his horse stood 
always near him, and equipped, even when in council. The world 
has and will continue to regard this victory as one of those master-, 
strokes by which great events are achieved and great characters 
stamped, as it were, by a single blow, and which bespeak that rare 
combination of genius to conceive, promptness to decide, and bold- 
ness to execute; and if we admire his presence of mind and daunt- 
less valour in the hour of danger and battle, we are not less struck 
with his modesty and self-command amid the flush of triumph. A 
courageous heart may and will often carry a man stoutly through 
the battle ; but it argues some strong quality of the head to drain, 
unmixed, the intoxicating cup of victory. 

How strikingly was this illustrated in his simple and concise let- 
ter, announcing the victory, and in answer to one of the numerous 
addresses which were presented to him in honour of the victory: 
— "I hope you will believe that I feel all that I should feel on this 
occasion ; for my country's gratitude is the best reward for all the 
soldier's toils. To the defence of New Orleans I was called by 
duty ; and in the performance of it, my best exertions were used. 
But to Heaven and the bravery of my soldiers, we are indebted for 
the victory. To Heaven and them, let it be awarded." 

Can there be any thing more touching and sublime 1 And surely, 
if there be an overruling Providence, who directs the destiny of 
men and nations, this great man seems to have been destined by 
Heaven to tread the wine-press. Conquerors of the mighty Napo- 
leon ! half thy laurels shall deck our warrior's tomb ! 

Those who wish to see how a country can defend itself without 
a regular army, and what sort of succour is to be obtained when 
the hour of peril and trial comes ; they, who wish to satisfy them- 
selves whether the bravery and patriotism of freemen can preserve 
itself under the calamities of desolating war, should read the his- 
tory of our last war with Great Britain, and especially the defence 
of New Orleans, and the lessons of General Jackson's life and ex- 
perience. Well may our country, then, proudly claim for him 
the high character of a renowned warrior ! 

His military services in Florida were also of an important cha- 
racter. He was engaged there for some time in expelling the 



262 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Birtish and savages, and punishing the perfidy and insolence of the 
haughty Spaniard. He was afterwards made governor of the ter- 
ritory ; secured by his energy the rights of the government and 
people ; organized a territorial government ; and then resigned his 
appointment : and, in his letter of resignation, with his character- 
istic frankness and boldness, he expressed the hope that Congress 
would not again invest any person with such large powers. He 
was subsequently offered the appointment of minister to Mexico, 
which he refused, and, amongst other reasons assigned for refusing, 
was this, that he would go to no court, whose chief officer was an 
usurper. 

And now, fellow-citizens, passing from this review of the mili- 
tary services and character of General Jackson, we come to that 
equally important, but more delicate part of his life, connected 
with his civil administration of the government for a period of 
eight years. 

In the presidential contest of 1824, his name for the first time 
was presented to the American people by the legislature of his 
own state and numerous bodies of his fellow-citizens throughout 
the Union, as a fit person to fill the presidential chair. In that 
election, he was, however, defeated, by the vote, not of the people, 
but the House of Representatives, upon whom the choice was cast 
by the constitution, under circumstances of peculiar interest and 
excitement. Of these, I propose to say nothing here. They are 
not subjects for this occasion. He submitted, as he should have 
done, to the decision of the constitutional authorities of his coun- 
try ; and his conduct was marked, on that occasion, with that pro- 
priety and dignity so characteristic of him. 

In the ensuing election, he was again taken up by his friends, and 
then took place one of the most exciting and bitter contests known 
in our country's history. To exhibit to you his character, I cannot 
do it better or more strongly, than to present, very briefly, the 
grounds upon which his claims were presented to the American 
people for this high office. He was supported upon the ground, 
that having been distinguished, if not for great talents, yet for use- 
ful services in all the civil offices, under the governments both of 
Tennessee and the United States, of councillor, legislator, senator, 
and judge, some of which he had filled more than once, and the 
duties of which he had discharged with ability and satisfaction to 
those he represented, he was qualified for any office under our go- 
vernment. That it was not probable that he could have been selected 
to fill high offices, so various and responsible, without possessing 
distinguished talents for civil duties ; or that he could have dis- 
charged them satisfactorily, without considerable acquirement ; that 
this should satisfy his country that his mind was not exclusively of 
a military character, and that his election to the presidency would 



Stevenson's eulogy. 263 

not therefore rest exclusively on his great military services. That, 
like Washington, he had been a citizen soldier, and like Washing- 
ton, was qualified for high civil command. That it was the com- 
mand of armies, and brilliant services rendered by both, that first 
endeared these great men to their country, and operated, doubtless, 
with both, in recommending them to the chair of state. That, if 
neither had been warriors, it is probable that neither would have 
been distinguished statesmen. That General Jackson was eminently 
qualified, by his great capacity for originating and directing mea- 
sures, for governing men, for bringing order out of confusion, and, 
by that prudent judgment and foresight, securing the good which 
many too often attribute to forlune.C That he was fitted for the 
chief magistracy of such a country and people, by all the qualities 
of his great mind and character, and by all the habits of his public 
and private life. That it would be vain to say, that a man nurtured 
in the bosom of freemen, every one one of whom was by birthright 
a politician — successively filling, by the choice of such a people, 
high and important offices in the legislative, executive, and judicial 
departments of government — was, notwithstanding all his ex- 
perience, and such proofs of public esteem and confidence, incom- 
petent to the administration of a popular government. That called, 
as he had been, from the pursuits of civil life to military command, 
he had become at once, and without regular military tuition, a gn at 
captain. That having to trust to his own resources, and to depend 
for success on the active and commanding energies of his own 
mighty mind, he did not then disappoint his country. That his 
combinations and conduct established a skill, a sagacity, and judg- 
ment, that would have done honour to the most renowned com- 
mander that had ever devoted a whole lifetime to the profession of 
arms. And that if such had been the results of General Jackson's 
capacity and talents, in a profession which he had but little 
followed, the results would not be less beneficial or glorious, when 
the same capacity, and talents, and integrity, should be devoted to 
an office more congenial to his habits. That it was true, he was 
not a man of great learning and genius, but, in lieu of these, he had 
a common sense, a discretion and prudence, which nothing could 
supply, and without which, knowledge was useless, and genius con- 
temptible. That he was a man who never mistook what to do, or 
what he was doing. That in regard to the fundamental questions 
of constitutional doctrines and national policy, he had been politi- 
cally nurtured in the school of our republican fathers, and that to 
these tenets of his youth, he still adhered. And that, lastly, in 
the language of Mr. Jefferson, he was " Honest, sincere, firm, and 
strong-minded — of sound public principles; and that, if he should 
be brought into the presidency, to correct the alarming tendency 
towards favourite, and otherwise irremedial evils, which were be- 



264 MONTTJtENT TO JACKSON. 

ginning to develope themselves in the administration of the federal 
government, he (Jackson) would be found entirely faithful to the 
object." These were the grounds on which he was presented to 
the country, and in the election of 1828, he was placed by the peo- 
ple in the presidential chair. 

The duties of his administration, though less arduous, in many 
respects, than those of his military command, yet required all the 
fortitude and sagacity, which his previous command had so con- 
spicuously displayed. He accordingly declared, that to guard against 
the evils which Mr. Jefferson had shadowed forth, to retract the 
government back to its republican track ; and give it stability and 
energy, and preserve to his country her blessings of union and 
peace, should be the first and great object of his duty. And, as his 
friends had rightly supposed, few men had clearer conceptions of 
the public good, or greater discernment in the selection of measures 
and men to promote it, than General Jackson. None knew better 
the great interests of his country — its history — domestic and foreign 
relations — the points of its public policy — the temper of the peo- 
ple — the genius of our political institutions, and the spirit of free 
government ! He knew that the genius of our own institutions ; 
the experience of other governments ; the records of history ; and 
the sad and melancholy fate of a long train of fallen republics, ad- 
monished us that libedy was only safe, when guarded by the wis- 
dom and vigilance of frugal, industrious, and virtuous freemen ! 
And it is not, therefore, wonderful, that the result of his adminis- 
tration should have been, that as a statesman he was no less distin- 
guished than as a warrior. Throughout his whole public career, 
v/e look in vain for any of those vices, which oppose the prosperity 
of nations, and the peace of the world, and which, at one time, 
was so much apprehended, from his rule, by his political opponents. 
His state papers and administration, afford abundant proofs of the 
purity, as well as solidity, of his principles ; and it is impossible to 
read them, and trace the whole course of his public career, without 
admitting that he performed justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, 
all the offices, both public and private, of peace and war. That 
there was a considerable, nay, a large portion of his countrymen, 
who had settled down in the conviction that General Jackson com- 
mitted great errors in his administration, and inflicted deep injuries 
upon his country, is true ; but this hostility was to be expected, and 
must therefore be regarded as the result of party feeling, under our 
institutions and form of government, rather than the evidence of 
deliberate and candid judgment. Indeed, in a government like ours, 
where opinions are free and spontaneous as the light which sur- 
rounds us, who expects that we should all agree in the means to 
produce any given end 1 It is this difference which creates, and 
must ever continue to create, parties in free governments. To time 



EULOGY. 265 

and experience must, therefore, be left the decision of many of 
these great questions. But who knows that these convictions and 
opinions, even when uninfluenced by party feelings, may not have 
been the result of less profound views of the understanding of many 
of those measures of his administration ! National virtue, national 
freedom and greatness, and the issue of a mighty experiment in 
free government — these were the great objects and purposes which 
absorbed most of this great man's attention, and in connexion with 
which, his administration must be regarded. May not the views of 
others be too much overstrained to national wealth and national dis- 
play ? Have they looked to the consequences, as regard posterity, 
as well as our free institutions ? What, if avarice, and selfishness, 
and national vanity, should supplant the love of country ! What, 
if these vices should be cherished and nurtured into a growth that 
shall chastise those simple and manly virtues, without which, men 
care little by whom, or in what manner, they are governed ! Our 
warriors and patriots of the Revolution, were not dandled in the lap 
of pleasure, or pampered with foreign luxuries. They sought not sub- 
stance and wealth amidst the skirts and quicksands of monied insti- 
tutions, nor fought for the trappings which deck factitious greatness, 
only to conceal the miseries accumulated in its train. No man ever 
dreaded, more than General Jackson, the baleful influence of a 
passion for gain, in its progress, often so degrading to national cha- 
racter, dangerous to the tranquillity of the world, fatal to every en- 
nobling sentiment, so destructive to social feeling, and which, 
becoming the vulgar passion of free governments, enslaves their 
people. He dreaded, moreover, that extension of the spirit of 
traffic and trade,, apart from legitimate commerce, which can 
only flourish in the intrigues and artifices of remorseless speculators. 
He' had before him, the experience and history of the world ; the 
long catalogue of fallen nations, and the annals of that ruin and 
decay, produced by the love of gain, and the ravages of luxury 
and corruption. He had not forgotten that Lacedremon, with her 
savage manners, her rigid sumptuary laws, and her stern Ephori, 
was, at last, so contaminated by wealth and luxury, that the most 
illustrious virtues and examples could not restore her ancient insti- 
tutions — and that Rome, the mistress of the world, and the arbiter 
of the fate of nations, was overturned, more by the excessive love 
of wealth, and the profligacy of her manners, than the arms of the 
Goths and Vandals! It was under these views, and to these ends, 
that some of the most important and efficient measures of his ad- 
ministration were directed. It was the boast of one of the Roman 
emperors, that he found the city of brick, and left it of marble. It 
was General Jackson's, that he found the government one of paper, 
and he determined to leave it one of gold ! 

I know, fellow-citizens, that it has been charged against him, 
23 



266 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

that he mistook the lust of power for the love of liberty ; and that 
power and ambition, were the predominating passions of his soul; 
to acquire which, he would sacrifice everything else — that he 
sought to govern by terror, rather than opinion, and that one great 
passion swallowed up every other — the means of acquiring and 
perpetuating his own authority. Never, never were there more 
unfounded accusations. His ambition was to deserve, not acquire, 
the admiration of his fellow men ; and it was, therefore, never too 
strong to leave him, at all times, honest. His ambition was to 
serve his country, which he had loved too well, as his whole life 
attests. He never ceased to remember, that those who would do 
public service, must forget themselves — that their reward was from 
within. When did he ever attempt the artifices of the demagogue, 
to enlist the passions and feelings of the people? Whom did he 
ever court ? To whom did he ever bow? What dissimulation did 
he ever practise 1 What office did he ever solicit 1 What office 
did he ever fill, in which he proved himself unworthy of power, 
or public confidence ? When did he ever attempt to disguise his 
designs, or, under the pretence of consulting the public good, gra- 
tifv his own selfish passions or venal wants ? Let his unstained and 
spotless life answer these questions. That he desired his adminis- 
tration to be popular, is admitted — but it was not for his own selfish 
purposes, but the general good. He knew that, in every country, 
however despotic, much must depend on the will of the governed, 
and that no government, much less a free one, could long hope for 
success, whose measures did not fall in with the wishes and feel- 
ings, nay, the passions of the people : that, in our country, this 
must ever be the case. No one knew better than this great man, 
that, with a people laborious, long trained to freedom and indepen- 
dence, and in the possession of that liberty and industry which 
enables wealth and influence to be disseminated amongst all classes 
of society, the voice of such a people formed, and must ever form, 
the support of free government ; and hence it is not to be wondered 
at, that his administration should have been one of the most popu- 
lar that this country ever had. So far, the principle of his heart 
was democratic ! 

But he was simply a military chieftain, and like Alexander, and 
Caesar, and Cromwell, and Bonaparte, must be ambitious and dan- 
gerous ! Yes, he was a military chieftain, and a glorious one too, 
as I trust I have shown ; but where were the armies of Alexander? 
the legions of Caesar? the soldiers of Cromwell ? or the guards of 
Napoleon ? I '11 tell you, my beloved countrymen : they were 
only to be found in the brave and honest citizens of this free coun- 
try, whom he led to battle and victory, in vindication of its liber- 
ties and glory ! This was the ambition of Andrew Jackson ! But 
was he ambitious? No ! His spirit soared beyond ambition's reach. 



EULOGY. 267 

He loved glory, but still more loved his country. That was his 
master-passion ; and, with resistless might, it ruled his every thought, 
and word, and deed. But he was vindictive to his opponents and 
to those whom he disliked ! Of those whom he regarded as dan- 
gerous and bad men, he certainly had great distrust. He regarded 
distrust, in public life, as a defensive principle, and thought with 
Burke, that there was no safety for honest men but in believing all 
possible evil of bad men, and acting with decision and steadiness 
on that belief. So far, and no farther, was he distrustful. 

With all his fondness and acquired propensity for military glory, 
and with every incentive to the exercise of arms, peace was the 
ruling principle of his conduct, and the tranquil prosperity of his 
country the dominant object of his ambition. This was finely 
illustrated throughout his whole administration, and especially in 
its intercourse with foreign states. And I shall never forget, in 
the moment of my departure for England in 1836, his last words to 
me as he bid me adieu, and it proved to be for ever, and which still 
ring in my ears : " Take care, my good friend, to defend manfully 
the rights and honour of your country : but, for God's sake, keep 
the peace !" How often was it said to me, while abroad, by the 
most enlightened and distinguished men — "Why, this General 
Jackson of yours must be an extraordinary man — we expected from 
what we heard, that he was to be the terror of the age, and the 
disturber of the peace of the world — that war was to be the great 
object of his administration. As it is, he has taken us all by sur- 
prise, and may now be regarded as the great pacificator, and the 
most illustrious and peaceful of all your rulers!" All Europe felt, 
and acknowledged his pacific policj^. They saw the wisdom and 
vigour of his measures, and acquiesced in his neutral peaceful po- 
licy. And it may not be unworthy of notice, that one of the 
greatest gratifications which he felt in laying down his high trust, 
as I know, was, that he had preserved the peace of his country ! 
He often said, that he came in with that determination, and had 
looked to it with unsleeping anxiety. He felt it was necessary to 
our prosperity, and thought, with Fox, that there was no justifiable 
cause of war with civilized and enlightened nations, but national 
honour ! 

With respect to his administration, it is, perhaps, impossible, at 
the present moment, to make up an impartial opinion, as to its 
effects and benefits. It is not the time for calm and deliberate 
judgment in relation to those troubled scenes. The tendency and 
effects of some of his great measures, posterity, probably, will 
alone be able to appreciate. But when the angry passions shall 
have been allayed ; the judgment unwarped by excitement and 
prejudice ; the heart no longer embittered with disappointment or 
revenge ; nor the mind carried away by the imputation of unwor- 



26S Mo.vrnn.NT to jacksox. 

thy motives; when the tendency of opinion and measures shall be 
examined by the test of reason and experience, then, and not till 
then, will full justice be done to this great man, and the distin- 
guished actors in those troubled scenes. Then will the full nature 
and the extent of public obligation be felt and acknowledged. 

It is, however, honourable to him and his opponents that, amidst 
all the contests and collisions of party, and those storms and strifes 
which, for so many years, agitated our country, his integrity and 
patriotism remained unsuspected and unimpeached. Even those 
who believed his political errors to have been the most numerous 
and mischievous, yet acknowledge that they were errors of the 
mind, actuated by the purest wishes, and pursuing, with undevi- 
ating rectitude of intention, the public good. 

And all now must admit one thing, and it is this, that at the 
close of the eight years of his administration, he laid down his 
high trust in the midst of the wealth, prosperity, and happiness of 
his country, and his own most unbounded popularity. Indeed, his 
popularity seemed to be that of eternal youth — like the sun, its 
light was always new, yet always the same. 

The question will doubtless be agitated by posterity, whether he 
was the greater general or statesman. Those who read attentively 
the history of his administration and his official papers, will be in- 
clined to pronounce in favour of the latter; while those who may 
not have duly considered them, but, more narrowly scanning his 
difficulties and sacrifices in war, will be inclined to decide in favour 
of the former. The controversy will therefore only be solved by 
admitting, as all must do, that he was great in war, and great in 
peace. 

We come now, in conclusion, to say a few words of this vene- 
rable man, in retirement, and of his private and domestic virtues. 

In March, 1837, General Jackson retired from public life to his 
residence in Tennessee, followed by the fervent admiration and 
gratitude of a devoted country. And what liberal and generous 
mind might not have been deeply moved, in seeing the man whose 
whole life had been devoted to his country, now abandoning power 
and dedicating himself in retirement to his family and his God ? 

And it was here that he exhibited a striking illustration of the 
truth, that true greatness is perfectly compatible with every thing 
that is amiable and engaging in man! 

He who had occupied so important a page in his country's his- 
tory, who had possessed a popularity and influence exceeded only 
by Washington's, who had filled every high station of dignity and 
trust which his country could confer, both civil and military, be- 
came, when in the domestic circle and around the social hearth, 
as simple as a child, distinguished by the suavity of his deportment 
and an intuitive felicity of making every one around him happy. 



Stevenson's eulogy. 269 

Such was Andrew Jackson, in private life ; and it is there that true 
greatness waits to be exhibited. In the world, men rise superior 
to each other ; but it is here that man rises superior to himself. 
The region of politics, at best, is baneful ; and too often " the soil, 
the vjces like." hi his private attachments, he was governed by 
the same steadiness that sustained his public conduct. His friend- 
ships were, therefore, sincere and fixed. If he loved you to-day, 
he would love you still more to-morrow, the next day, and for ever, 
provided you did nothing to forfeit his regard and good opinion. 
Although, in a character marked by such strength of features, the 
lineaments of the softer virtues could scarcely be expected to mix; 
yet those who knew him best in private life, and in the unbendings 
of retirement, knew the genuine indications of their existence, and 
the childlike simplicity and tenderness of his nature. 

His manners, though naturally dignified, were never haughty. 
There was the same gentleness without timidity, and decision with- 
out presumption. He blended dignity with condescension, and the 
greatest as well as the humblest objects received his attention. 
Born with strong passions, often the concomitants of genius, he 
had acquired great command and ascendancy over them ; and, 
among all his personal qualities, courage, both physical and moral, 
were allowed to him, in an eminent degree. It was these only, 
which, amidst those formidable agitations of party which, for so 
many years of his administration, convulsed the American people, 
could have enabled him, as they did, to remain firm and immova- 
ble. In all matters of pecuniary concern, his dealings were dic- 
tated by a punctual regard to his engagements, and, at the same 
time, distinguished by great liberality; without indulging in ex- 
cesses which bring on embarrassment. 

His honesty can scarcely be said to have claimed the rank of a 
virtue. It required no effort, and could therefore boast no triumph; 
and it may not be deemed unimportant to remark, that among all 
the various calumnies which malice has endeavoured to cast upon 
the fame of this distinguished man, the tongue of slander never 
whispered the imputation of a single act of mercenary meanness. 

An inflexible consistency of principle, equally proof against 
casual failure, and the most insurmountable difficulties — an erect- 
ness of principle and a pride originating in and supported by con- 
scious talents and integrity — were among his chief characteristics. 

His hospitality was proverbial. The friend and the stranger 
were received with cordial welcome at his hospitable mansion, and 
his benevolence and kindness to his neighbours were acknowledged 
with affectionate gratitude. Friend to the poor — for surely that 
godlike virtue was his — he comforted and blessed them by his pri- 
vate liberality and his public largesses. Bear witness, ye mourners 
around the Hermitage, and you, good people of Tennessee ! 
23* 



270 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

He was married but once, and had no children or blood relatives; 
but the fraternal love which he bore towards the relations of his 
beloved wife was as exemplary as it was sincere ; and the munifi- 
cent presents for all her relatives attest the affection and devotion 
which he bore to her (and she was worthy of it all !) and her kin- 
dred. Nor was his munificence bounded by these limits. The 
institutions of freedom and science were annually consulted and 
most generously rewarded. 

And who is there that must not have been struck with the pre- 
servation of his intellect, and the fortitude and resignation which 
he exhibited to the last hour? In the scenes which closed his 
earthly career, his death was in every respect conformable to his 
life. Never was he more true to his great character ! Even in 
the moments of great bodily pain and approaching dissolution, 
when it might have been expected that a man's every feeling would 
be concentrated in personal suffering, his thoughts were occupied by 
the awful event impending; and even in these moments, all selfish 
considerations were put aside, and the sentiments still uppermost in 
his mind were, God and his country. And his death was marked 
by the coolness and serenity which are thought to belong exclu- 
sively to health of body and a mind at ease. 



1 To live with fame 



The gods allow to many ; but to die, 
With equal lustre, is a blessing Heaven 
Selects from all her choicest boons of Fate 
And with a sparing hand on few bestows." 

One part only of his character now remains to be noticed ; and 
tnat is, his reverence for religion. In all his public documents, 
God is honoured ! A man of General Jackson's strong and supe- 
rior mind could not but have had the strongest impressions of reli- 
gion ; and doubtless, in his last moments, they smoothed his pillow 
and whispered comfort to his soul. 

It was therefore around his deathbed, that an additional lustre, 
as well as sacredness, was thrown, by the manner in which he met 
death, and the resignation which marked his last moments. He 
felt that his time was come, and that " the paths of glory lead but 
to the grave." He died, as he had lived — a Christian ; and his 
last words were, " God and my country." 

Of the military exploits of this truly great man, the hero shall 
tell. Our young warriors shall be ambitious of emulating them. 
The sage shall speak of his counsels — the statesman shall follow 
them. All shall reverence his great virtues, to teach the rising 
generation to imitate them. Millions yet unborn shall speak his 
praise, and over his ashes hang the free tribute of gratitude and 
tears; and, when marble and monuments shall moulder in the 
dust, the name of Jackson shall still live. With you, my beloved 



Stevenson's eulogy. 271 

countrymen, he will never die! He will live in your liberty and 
glorious institutions ! He will live in that national prosperity 
which he laboured to secure, for generations yet to come ! He 
will live in his own great example, which has shown you how 
to preserve what your fathers had so gloriously won ! By all his 
inestimable services and splendid actions — by the respect and vene- 
ration in which you hold his character — by the wisdom of his 
counsels and the dignity of his example, appreciate, I beseech 
you, your conceptions of his memory, by serving your country as 
he served it, and honouring God as he honoured him. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT LOUISVILLE, KY, JULY 3, 1845, 



BY 



THOMAS L. SMITH, Esq. 



Throughout all our vast country, we hear the voice of mourning. 
A nation grieves for the loss of a loved and honoured son. The peo- 
ple who compose this great assemblage, in like manner with others 
of their fellow-countrymen elsewhere, have spontaneously gathered 
together to do honour to the memory of a departed hero and patriot. 
Men of all parties, and of all grades, pursuits and occupations, are 
united on this occasion. All are sensible that the shaft of death 
has reached an illustrious mark, and has removed from the con- 
nexions of this earth, one, who, for a long series of years, has been 
intimately associated in the minds of his fellow-citizens, with some 
of the most brilliant eras in the annals of the country, and one who 
has long been regarded, by a large proportion of the people, with 
the highest degree of veneration and esteem. 

DO 

I know not how I shall give utterance to the sentiments which 
so obviously pervade the whole country, in reference to the decease 
of Andrew Jackson. Though we feel that his loss is a public 
calamity, yet we cannot complain. Full of years, and of honours, 
the venerable patriot has been gathered to his fathers. For more 
than the full average period of human life, he has been spared to 
his country, and few, indeed, have reaped such rich harvests of all 
that human ambition is wont to crave whilst sojourning upon earth. 
Nor was this event unlooked for, or unexpected, to himself, or to 
us. For several years past, his increasing age and infirmities, gave 
melancholy warning that he must ere long prepare for that dread 
change to which all mortal men are subject. Still, we are not the 
less sensibly affected, now that our natural anticipations have been 
realized, and that the spirit that so long shone a brilliant light in 
our sphere has been quenched, to us, for ever, and taken home to 
its Heavenly Father. 

A sensation, solemn, profound, universal, pervades all sections of 

(272) 



273 

the Uuion. A united people attend as mourners at his funeral. 
They consign his mortal remains to the tomb of his own choice, 
beneath the green soil of the land he loved so well, and by the side 
of the beloved partner of his domestic joys and sorrows, who had 
preceded him in death. There they will rest in honoured repose, 
until the archangel's trump shall sound the summons to an ever- 
lasting resurrection. But the memory of his illustrious deeds will 
live — they will be familiar to the ears of unborn millions, and in 
future ages, his example, and his counsels, will continue to exert a 
beneficial influence over the destinies of his beloved country. 

No other man, of his time, was so ardently beloved by a majority 
of his fellow-citizens — no other wielded such influence over the 
masses of the people. How much of that influence was beneficial, 
and how much evil, in its results, has been the subject of violent 
party contests, and it is, therefore, perhaps, not for the present gene- 
ration to determine ; but all admit that his intentions were always 
pure, and dictated by an ardent desire to promote the true interests 
of the country. He was, in all respects, a hero and a patriot. At 
all times, and in all seasons, he was ready to devote his energies, 
and to sacrifice all personal considerations of safety, interest, and 
even popularity, for the common good. He never hesitated in the 
performance of a duty, which he believed was required of him, 
whatever personal consequences might result to himself or others ; 
and, on the other hand, no motive, either of personal advantage, or 
compromise, or conciliation, could induce him, for one moment, to 
entertain the idea of performing an act, which he believed was 
wrong, or in violation of the obligations imposed upon him. 

This well known inflexibility of purpose, was, unquestionably, 
one of his most remarkable characteristics; and was, to a considerable 
extent, the cause, both of the great admiration, and violent hostility, 
with which persons of opposite political sentiments regarded cer- 
tain leading measures of his civil administration. His political 
friends had unbounded faith in the honesty and disinterestedness of 
his intentions, in his comprehensive judgment to foresee threatened 
dangers, and provide measures for the public security, and in his 
dauntless courage and abilities to persevere in the accomplishment 
of those measures, at all hazards, and in despite of all difficulties. 
Nor -was this faith granted blindly, or gratuitously. It was based 
upon their experience and observation of his whole course of action, 
and upon the knowledge that each successive development of his 
views and objects, were, after the severest scrutiny, fully sanctioned 
by their own reason and judgment. 

General Jackson certainly possessed all the elements of greatness 
— a clear and comprehensive intellect, a quickness of conception 
that seemed intuitive, and an incomparable energy, and power of 
action in carrying his conceptions into effect. This rare combina- 



274 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

tion of the powers of deliberation and execution, almost necessarily 
rendered him the leading spirit in all the positions which he oc- 
cupied through life. While yet a mere youth of thirteen years 
of age, he bore an active and conspicuous part in several severe 
and sanguinary skirmishes with the English troops and Tories, in his 
native state, South Carolina. In 1788, at the age of twenty-one, 
he removed to Tennessee, and in a very few years, we find him a 
member of the convention elected to frame a constitution for the 
state, of the House of Representatives, and of the Senate of the 
United States. Thus, at the age of thirty, a period of life when 
ordinary men have but just entered upon their career, he had already 
filled some of the most important and exalted offices in the gift of 
the people, amongst whom he had made his residence. 

Yet he never courted offices or honours. Those that were be- 
stowed upon him by his fellow-citizens, were granted by their un- 
bought suffrages, and naturally resulted from the general sense of 
his incorruptible integrity, and his superior qualifications. These 
were equally manifest in all situations, in peace, and in war, in the 
cabinet, and in the field. Wherever he appeared, the people be- 
held in him, the man of the age, who, more than any other, was 
qualified to direct the helm on important or difficult occasions. So 
little did he covet official station, that, in 1799, while yet a young 
man, he voluntarily resigned his seat in the Senate of the United 
States, one of the most honourable, dignified, and desirable offices, 
which this country nffords. Soon after, he also resigned his seat 
on the bench of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, to which he had 
been appointed on his retirement from the Senate. It has been 
said, that he resigned these offices in consequence of his own sense 
of a want of suitable qualifications. If so, this is but another 
proof of the innate greatness and magnanimity of his mind. What 
ordinary men resign high and lucrative offices from such motives? 
It is rare, indeed, that common men retire from such positions from 
a sense of personal unfitness, or a disinterested desire to make way 
for others better qualified to promote the public interest. It is, 
perhaps, still more rare, that men of common minds can perceive 
their own deficiencies, when possessed of the unbounded confidence 
of the community, and elevated to distinguished station, without 
desire or solicitation on their own part. Experience proves that 
it is only men of superior intellect and capacity, who are thus 
liable to doubt their own abilities, and such men, notwithstanding 
their distrust in themselves, have always been found to be the most 
faithful and able depositories of public trusts. 

Andrew Jackson was not ambitious, in the ordinary sense of the 
term. Had he been so, it would be impossible to account for his 
absolute relinquishment of the abundant means which were thus 
early placed within his reach for the gratification of that passion, 



smith's eulogy. 275 

and that too, at the very period of life when most men are strongly 
influenced by its promptings. He preferred peaceful tranquillity, 
and domestic felicity, in the bosom of his own family, to all the 
allurements of ambition. Nothing had power to call him forth but 
necessity. While his country enjoyed peace and prosperity, he 
only aspired to be the humblest of its citizens, and to dispense 
around him the comforts and blessings of domestic life. A lover 
of peace, he was yet prompt to obey the first calls upon his duty as 
a man and a patriot. When all was calm and peaceful, interest or 
ambition could not lure him from his privacy ; but when dangerous 
clouds darkened the horizon, and the alarms of war broke upon the 
startled ears of his countrymen, then were all eyes turned to him, 
the master-spirit of the times, whose unerring sagacity, dauntless 
courage, and resistless energy of purpose, plainly marked him out 
as the man, of all others, most fitted to take the lead in the hour 
of danger. How nobly, and how well, he fulfilled the hopes and 
expectations which were thus inspired, is written on many bright 
pages of our national history. 

Well may the nation mourn for Andrew Jackson. We shall not 
soon behold his like again. All sections of our wide extended 
country, will feel the loss it has sustained. The people of the 
southern states grieve for their most gallant and chivalric defender. 
When the lone settlers upon the frontier wilderness, were exposed 
to the horrors of savage warfare, he was the guardian genius who 
protected and avenged them. Their trials and dangers have long 
passed away, but they are not forgotten by the inhabitants of that 
section of the country. Many an aged veteran still sits by his fire- 
side, and recounts to his children the history of those troubled days. 
He tells them how men were wakened in the dead of night by the 
wild and fearful warwhoop — how they were shot down upon their 
own thresholds, or fled by the light of their burning cabins — how 
old men, and women, and helpless babes, were put to death with 
cruel tortures — how distracted mothers, with their trembling 
children, wandered many a weary mile through the wild woods, 
seeking refuge and shelter — all these, and many other stirring 
scenes of Indian wars, he will narrate in the long winter evenings 
and the summer noons. And when their young blood boils ;>t 
these recitals, he will tell also of the gallant deeds of the heroic 
chieftain who is now no more — how promptly and expeditiously he 
flew to their relief — how victory followed his banners wherever he 
appeared, and how, from place to place, and with many a bloody 
and hard fought contest, he drove back the savage warriors into the 
recesses of their forests, and gave permanent peace and tranquillity 
to the distressed country. 

The people of the west have also lost, in him, their bravest and 
most successful champion — and thousands who followed under his 



276 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

victorious standard will mourn him as their chieftain, father, friend. 
A rigid disciplinarian, and of iron inflexibility of purpose, he was 
yet all these to those who faithfully served under his command. 
Cheerfully he shared all their dangers and their privations. The 
sick and wounded always found in him a most faithful and attentive 
guardian, watchful to provide for their security, and anxious to re- 
lieve their slightest necessities. He possessed a heart overflowing 
with kindness to his friends, and an attachment to his comrades-in- 
arms that no distance could weaken, no time could eradicate. The 
tears of those faithful companions of his perils and his glory will 
fall like rain drops upon his grave. They knew him well, and 
none knew him but loved him. Sooner might the heart's blood be 
extracted from an old western soldier than his love and reverence 
for the memory of Andrew Jackson. 

The people of the whole Union will honour him as one who has 
shed imperishable lustre upon the American name — who raised up 
the drooping spirit of his countrymen in the hour of their greatest 
despondency and gloom, and electrified all hearts by the glorious 
victory he achieved over a foreign foe upon the plains of New Or- 
leans. Ah ! what recollections throng around us, as we recall to 
mind the memorable day when that noble army of western citizens, 
headed by their dauntless chieftain, met and conquered the choicest 
veterans of Europe, on the banks of the Mississippi. The despond- 
ent fears of our own countrymen, and the vauntings of the enemy, 
as they came careering on, with their watchword of "Beauty and 
booty," and with songs, and jests, and revelry, despising the undis- 
ciplined militia of the west, are still ringing in our ears. Con- 
querors of Spain, veterans in war, and flushed with recent victory 
over the far-famed legions of France, they but anticipated a march 
of pleasure, to plunder and ravage a defenceless city. How they 
were disappointed, is now familiar history to every inhabitant of 
this country, and England will long remember that bloody field 
where thousands of the bravest chivalry still sleep, not in the 
arms of beauty, but in the cold embrace of death. And well do 
the citizens of that day remember, how the glorious news of that 
great victory spread from town to town, and from state to state — 
how shouts of joyful exultation went up, and bonfires and illumi- 
nations lightened all the land — and how the heroic Jackson, and 
the brave hunters of Kentucky and Tennessee, were hailed and 
cheered as the defenders and saviours of their country. Ah ! the 
glory of that day will never be forgotten, while the star-spangled 
banner flings its glorious folds " o'er the land of the free, and the 
home of the brave.'' When they think of that day, and its results, 
immediate and remote, all classes and conditions of men who love 
their country, and are proud of its fame, will honour the memory 
of Andrew Jackson. How proudly they do think of them, and 



smith's eulogy. 277 

how highly they estimate his services, is manifested by the sinceri- 
ty and unanimity with which they join in the general testimonials 
of respect a grateful nation now awards him. All join in these 
funeral solemnities. The plain citizen honours his devotion to his 
country, his obedience to the laws, and the spotless integrity of his 
private life; and the citizen soldier comes with martial tramp and 
muffled drum, to do respectful homage at the tomb of a departed 
chieftain, whose military achievements will bear honourable com- 
parison with those of the most celebrated heroes of ancient or mo- 
dern times. 

Of the civil services of Andrew Jackson, although they form so 
large and important a part of his public life, it is not my purpose 
now to speak. The time has not yet arrived when the country 
can form a united judgment with respect to them. At some future 
time, when the remembrance of the fierce contests and the inte- 
rests and passions, which came in collision during the party con- 
flicts of the day shall have passed from the minds of men, posterity 
will do him impartial justice and pronounce a proper verdict upon 
his political course. To that tribunal let us commit the task of 
setting the conflicting opinions which now exist in reference to this 
portion of his public life. It is honourable to those who have en- 
tertained sentiments of hostility to his political acts, that they can 
thus bury all feelings of resentment in his grave, and join in a cor- 
dial manifestation of respect for those virtues and services which 
all can acknowledge and all approve. So may it ever be, with all 
parties in this country. Certainly, I would deeply regret, on an 
occasion like the present, to give utterance to a single thought that 
could mar the general unanimity. 

We may, however, look back upon some of the circumstances 
connected with his administration of the general government, with- 
out disturbing the elements of party discord. Stern and inflexible 
as he was, in pursuing himself, and in compelling others under his 
control to pursue the strict line of policy which, in his judgment, 
was correct, he yet possessed a charm in his manners and deport- 
ment, that insensibly won the affection and esteem of all with whom 
he habitually came in contact. In his intercourse with all men, he 
was remarkable for his plain republican dignity and graceful cour- 
tesy. His kindness of heart and amenity of manners were so ap- 
parent and unaffected, that all who knew him, with but few excep- 
tions, personally loved and admired him. Yet no man could ap- 
proach him, without being sensible of the presence of an individual 
possessing extraordinary powers of mind and of influence. It was 
plain, indeed, that the same master-spirit, which all men had re- 
cognised and acknowledged in the camp, ruled in the councils of 
the nation and in the halls of the presidential mansion. The same 
comprehensive intellect, the same quickness of perception, and the 
24, 



278 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



same rigid inflexibility of purpose marked him as the leader of 
other men as well in one situation as the other. 

Vehement as he was in despotism, he was yet patient in investi- 
gation. No great public measure was ever commenced in rash 
haste — no individual was ever injured by intentional injustice, or 
by inconsiderate or careless action. The remarkable powers of in- 
fluence that he wielded, were not confined to our country or people. 
They were sensibly experienced by all nations with which we 
were on terms of intercourse. Negotiations that seemed intermi- 
nable, were suddenly cut short, and brought to a satisfactory close. 
Losses sustained by our citizens, by the illegal seizure of their ves- 
sels, during the previous wars in Europe, were promptly adjusted 
and repaid. What all the skill of the most able diplomatists could 
not accomplish in many years, was brought about at once by the 
magic influence of his character. These effects were the result of 
the same convictions of his integrity of purpose, and his inflexible 
resolution in adhering to his determinations, which had given him 
such extraordinary power over the minds of the people of our own 
country. At no period did our national character stand higher 
abroad than during that of his administration. There was no 
civilized country where our flag was not honoured and respected. 
We can look back to the condition of our foreign relations during 
that period with pride and gratification — confident that we shall 
find nothing to blush for or regret in any of the transactions of the 
government with other nations. A liberal, enlightened, and high- 
toned self-respecting policy was always adhered to. Though strict 
in requiring even-handed justice, General Jackson on all occasions 
endeavoured to promote a free and profitable intercourse with all 
foreign countries. Advantageous commercial treaties were made 
with almost all the principal nations of the globe, most of which 
are still in force. His comprehensive views extended to every- 
thing which could improve the old or open new avenues to the en- 
terprise of the people. 

But the public life and character of Andrew Jackson, forms a 
continuous portion of the whole history of the country for a long 
series of years. I am sensible how extremely imperfect must be 
any attempt to give even a scanty outline with the means and op- 
portunies at my command. The task of delineating them in full 
must b^ reserved for other and much abler pens. They afford 
abundant materials for the occupation of future historians, philoso- 
phers, and statesmen. 

Perhaps in no part of the whole career of the venerated patriot, 
was the greatness and magnanimity of his character more truly 
manifested, than in the closing years of his eventful life. Provi- 
dence granted him length of days, and he filled them well unto the 
end. After enjoying all the fame and honours of a military con- 



279 

queror, and all of power, station, and dignity his country could be- 
stow, he retired to spend the remnant of his life in humble pri- 
vacy, and to dispense around him in his domestic sphere, the be- 
nign influence of a life of Christian piety and resignation. Men 
had been accustomed to contemplate him as he appeared on the 
theatre of the world, surrounded with martial trappings, or dis- 
pensing power and patronage from his exalted official positions. 
They were well acquainted with the splendid characteristics by 
which he was so distinguished amongst his contemporaries — his 
military genius, his bravery, probity, vigilance, activity, and firm- 
ness — his lofty bearing and magnanimity, which had attracted the 
admiration of all nations. All these traits were familiar to the 
public, but it remained for him to prove, how cheerfully, after he 
had finished his public tasks, he could disrobe himself of all the 
paraphernalia of rank and power, and devote the remainder of his 
days to the faithful performance of his duties as an humble citizen 
and pious Christian. Such was Andrew Jackson in his retirement. 
Kindness, gentleness, and the holy influence of fervid religion reign- 
ed around him. As a parent, friend, and neighbour, he was beloved 
beyond expression. In his household all was peace and tranquillity. 
Though long suffering with disease and infirmities, he was patient 
and forbearing — full of gratitude to his Creator for the blessings and 
favours he had enjoyed though life, and calmly awaiting death, in 
the hope of immortality through the medium of the Redeemer of 
Mankind. 

I have attempted, briefly, to sketch some of the most prominent 
traits of the character of the illustrious man whose loss we lament. 
I am fully conscious how feebly I have done so, but I know also 
that there is little need of recalling them to the minds of the peo- 
ple of this country. The recapitulation is but a form, for they are 
felt and appreciated in the minds of my hearers more vividly and 
truly than I have power to portray. No man ever exceeded him 
in the love he bore his country — none but one ever rendered that 
country more eminent services. He was the man suited to the 
times and emergencies in which he lived. May an over-ruling 
Providence rear up in the future days of our republic, others who 
may equal him in ardent patriotism, and with qualities equally 
suitable to guard its interests and its safety. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT EASTON, PA, JUNE 28, 1845, 



BY 



WASHINGTON M'CARTNEY, Esq. 



Citizens, Soldiers, Americans : — No man liveth unto himself, 
and no man dieth unto himself. This is a moral law of our race, 
revealed by the spirit of divine truth, and felt through the world. 
Andrew Jackson has lived — Andrew Jackson is dead. Did he live 
unto himself? Did he die unto himself? The history of his coun- 
try declares that he did not so live and die. The solemn dirge, 
whose tones have just sighed along these walls, announces that he 
did not so live and die. He obeyed the moral law of his race. 
Had he lived unto himself, and died unto himself, why these funeral 
weeds, these dismal symbols, these memorials of the departed one ? 
What does a nation say of him, whom dead, we now lament? 
Listen to its voice, — through the valleys, and along the streams, 
from the western prairie to the eastern city, from the thousand 
waters of the Mississippi to the Atlantic border, there rises up the 
voice of mourning. A nation tolls the funeral bell. A nation puts 
on the garments of sorrow. Andrew Jaekson is no more. No 
more ? No more, did I say ? Recall that phrase " no more." It 
grates too harshly. It harmonizes not with the religious faith that 
promises immortality. It accords not with the fond feelings of a 
nation. Faith follows the departed hero beyond the grave, at the 
Hermitage, and forbids us to say " He is no more." Our inward 
nature re-echoes to our faith. The nation's hero still lives. He 
belonged to a race which enjoys immortality. He lives, too, in his 
country's history. Though dead, he still speaketh. He speaks to 
a nation in his worthy deeds. He speaks from the battle-field, 
from the hall of state, and from the Hermitage. He has, this day, 
brought you together. 

But what does this day's gathering say of Andrew Jackson ? 
What says the muffled drum, the solemn music, the crape-shrouded 
flag? They announce that he had a place in the hearts of his 

(280) 



m'cartney's eulogy. 281 

countrymen. They announce that he has been recalled to give an 
account of his mission to earth. They announce that he has lived 
not unto himself, and that he died not unto himself. 

During his life, he received honours from his country, such as 
few men have received. Upon his grave, a nation bestows the 
testimonial of its sincere affection. 

What teas Andrew Jackson, and what did he do, that he should 
receive such honours while living, and when dead, should gather a 
nation round his tomb? What was he? He was the imbodiment 
of the true spirit of the nation in which he lived. What did he 
do?- He put himself at the head of the great movement ofthe age 
in which he lived. This was what he was, and this was what he 
did. For this, a nation admired him while living, and for this, a 
nation pays him those cypress honours in which we this day join. 
Let it be our theme to show that Andrew Jackson did imbody the 
true spirit of his nation, that he did put himself at the head of the 
great movement of his age, and that because he was this, and did 
this, he received, and yet receives, the admiration and the honour 
of his countrymen. Around this theme, we might cluster the 
thrilling scenes of his military life, the prominent actions of hi* 
political, and the praiseworthy deeds of his domestic life. For all 
these enter into the description of what he was, and what he did. 

We have said that Andrew Jackson imbodied the ruling spirit of 
his country, and entered heart and soul into the great movement of 
his age. Run the eye across the history of the world. You observe 
that there are certain cycles, or ages, or periods of time, which have 
their peculiar spirit, their ruling passion, their great, characterizing, 
distinctive movements. He, who imbodies in its greatest fulness, 
the spirit of such an age, and enters with most earnestness into its 
movements, receives the admiration of his cotemporaries. They 
bestow their honours upon him while living, and when dead, they 
embalm his memory, and inurn him in their warmest affections. 
And why? because they see in him their own image. Because, in 
him is concentrated the spirit that has burned in their own bosom. 
Because, in him exists, in bodily form, in living flesh and blood, the 
spirit that gives them life and motion. The spirit of God de- 
scended upon the Saviour of the world in the form of a dove. 
The spirit of an age sometimes descends to future generations in the 
form of a man. An individual sometimes appears, who becomes 
the dove-like incorporation of the spirit, that moves through vast 
masses of men. The admiration merited by him, and bestowed 
upon him, is in proportion to the nature, extent, and intensity, of 
that Spirit which finds its fulness of existence in him. The 
Redeemer of man, when upon earth, was the imbodiment of the 
pure spirit that moves and directs all humanity in its regenerated 
life. Beside him, all approaches towards the imbodiment of the 
24* 



282 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

pure, life-giving spirit of the race, have been local, partial, imper- 
fect. But in proportion as an individual concentrates within him- 
self, the spirit which works through masses of men, and -which 
moves, and should move them through the greatest cycle of time. 
in that proportion, he becomes entitled to their admiration and 
praise. In William Tell, the spirit of Switzerland's liberty existed 
in its fulness. Switzerland gazed — admired — roused itself at the 
twang of his bow, and still honours the hero. Luther was the 
typing out, in human form, of a spirit that circulated all over 
Europe. When the nations saw their image in him, they admired 
the man. Europe did him reverence. Nations gathered around 
him. Washington was the typing out, in living flesh and blood, of 
that burning spirit of liberty, that pervaded three millions of free- 
men. In him, it existed as in its dove-like imbodiment. Hamilton 
and Jefferson, became each the type and image of his party. 
Thousands saw in them the fulness of their own ideal of political 
perfection. Therefore Hamilton and Jefferson were admired But 
why add to the muster-roll of names, to verify the truth, so widely 
felt, that he who gains the admiration of a nation, must be the type, 
the image, the imbodied spirit of the nation. The historical heavens 
are full of stars — but one star differeth from another star in glory. 
One shines brighter than its fellows, because it has more of the 
matter of light within it. But all who shine as the stars of history, 
derive their brightness from the degree of perfection in which they 
imbody the spirit that pervades vast aggregations of men. Because 
his countrymen saw their image and spirit in Andrew Jackson, they 
bestowed their honour and admiration upon him. Begin then, at 
the lowest grade of those who receive the praise of their fellow- 
men. Fill up the catalogue of stars. Go from the dimmest to the 
brighest. Advance from the village hero, upwards, and upwards, 
and upwards, till you arrive at the impersonation of all human 
perfection. Where, on such a list, would you inscribe the name, 

ANDREW JACKSON. 

The position of his name upon the list of honour, will depend 
upon the degree of perfection in which he was the image of his 
fellow-republicans. 

To see in what degree of perfection he imbodied the spirit of 
his countrymen, look at him 

As a military man, 

As a politician, 

As a citizen. 

Contemplate him first as a military man. What was he, and 
what did he do ? A native of South Carolina, he was early engaged 
in the cause of his country. An Irishman, by descent, he inherited 
the ardent character of his race. A republican, in all his youthful 
feelings, the fires of the Revolution brought him into the field. 



m'cartney's eulogy. 283 

Engaged in an unsuccessful skirmish, he became prisoner in the 
hands of the enemy. He was then fourteen years of age. 

" Black my boots," said a British officer, to the captured Jackson. 
"I am a prisoner of war, and entitled to be treated as such," 
replied Jackson, and refused. A stroke from the sword of the 
officer nearly terminated the life of the bold prisoner. Here was 
the beginning of the warrior. Here was the first exhibition of 
that American spirit which existed in him in a bodily form. The 
incident may seem a trifle ; but it was connected with a great prin- 
ciple ; for the Americans had been stigmatized as rebels during the 
Revolution. Captured rebels are not treated as prisoners of war. 
By claiming to be such a prisoner, Andrew Jackson asserted that 
he belonged not to a band of rebels, but to a nation that was war- 
ring against another nation. His country had already become the 
idol of his boyish heart. To assert her honour, to maintain her 
national character, he put his life in his hand, and took the " re- 
sponsibility" of disobeying the debasing command. Here was the 
spirit that then pervaded revolutionary America ! To maintain the 
national character, to assert the high and honourable motives 
which impelled the colonies to the war, to be and to be regarded 
as a nation of upright men ; to accomplish this, was a desire 
which in those days glowed in the breast of every American — 
Tories and Cowboys excepted. This spirit had a complete habita- 
tion in Andrew Jackson, the " prisoner of war." 

But the Revolution ended, and thirty years of peace circulated 
over the country. When the aggressions of Great Britain plunged 
us into the war of 1812, where was Andrew Jackson? What 
military exhibition did he then make that in him was imbodied a 
double portion of the spirit that fired his countrymen'? Let his 
military actions speak. They are known to all the world — to the 
American world, at least ; and, I might add, they are known to the 
British and to the Southern Indians. To him was committed the 
management of the war in the South-west. Placed at a distance 
from the seat of government, he was compelled to rely very much 
upon his own judgment in the conduct of his military operations. 
Orders written at Washington city for his direction, sometimes did 
not reach him until three months after their date. In this position, 
he was frequently compelled to risk his own reputation and honour 
for the safety of his country. Thus left to himself, he waged war 
upon the Indians of Alabama and Georgia. As an illustration of 
the difficulties of his position, look at the manner in which he was 
brought into contact with the Spanish government. Florida be- 
longed to Spain. Florida gave shelter to the British and Indians, 
who prepared within its limits those expeditions that spread deso- 
lation along the South-western frontier. General Jackson remon- 
strated with the Spanish governor of Florida, upon this iniquitous 



284 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

procedure. He demanded that the Spanish government should 
preserve, not only a nominal, but an actual neutrality, and put an 
end to such expeditions. The governor quibbled, promised, de- 
layed, discussed the rights of neutrals, did nothing, and finally made 
some observations upon General Jackson's diplomatic character. 

" I will announce my diplomatic character at the mouth of my 
cannon," replied General Jackson, and marched his army into Flo- 
rida, sacked Pensacola, and destroyed the nest in which had been 
hatched the Indian massacres. Spain murmured, but his country 
approved the daring and the doing, and Spain was quiet. Here 
was the man — here was the general, who risked reputation and 
honour for the peace and prosperity of his beloved country. Here 
was a moral heroism that far excels the heroism of the battle-field. 
Here his country admired the man, because he acted from motives 
which they honoured, and which they felt would long preserve 
American republicanism. 

Through all his operations against the Indians and their British 
instigators, he exhibited that same bold, fearless, cautious conduct, 
which drew forth the admiration of his country. They admired it 
because it was such conduct as they felt was needed in a republic 
in such a crisis. In all his marches and victories over the Indians, 
he displayed a vigilance, activity, perseverance, and daring, that 
have seldom been equalled — never surpassed. But it was at 
Orleans that he filled up the measure of his military renown. The 
glories of that memorable defence need no recital here. The 
country knows it by heart. Often as the cannon of the 8th of 
January awakens the recollection of the great deliverance of that 
proud city of the South, the American republic echoes and re- 
echoes the name of Andrew Jackson. But in working out this 
deliverance, General Jackson was compelled to take a responsibility 
which has seldom fallen upon the generals of the republic. In that 
city were congregated Spaniards, Frenchmen, Italians, adventurers, 
spies, traitors, villains of all grades and of all hues. To control 
this mass, and defend the city, General Jackson extended his camp 
to include Orleans, and subjected it to martial law. Here was an 
exercise of authority which his duty compelled him to make. But 
the results of the measure were immediately beneficial. Order 
rose out of confusion ; the energies of the populace were rallied 
round their defender. Judges became soldiers ; villains disap- 
peared. The success of the final hour of trial adorned the brow 
of the hero with military laurels such as have been seldom worn. 
In the whole work of the defence, in its grand operations, in the 
hour of battle and in the hour of victory, he was everywhere the 
general which the republic needed at such a time. The thirtieth 
anniversary of this brilliant victory carried notes of rejoicing to 
the veteran general in the Hermitage. It announced to him that 



macartney's eulogy. 285 

his military character was such as a republican nation rejoiced to 
find in one of its generals. 

It seemed to be the peculiar characteristic of the military opera- 
tions of General Jackson, that they all involved the decision of 
most important questions in municiple or international law. We 
have seen the responsibility thrown upon him in his conduct of 
the Indian war, when he invaded Florida, and in his defence of 
Orleans, when he declared martial law. A similar responsibility 
rested upon him in the Seminole war of 1817 and 1818. In this 
war the old difficulty was renewed. Florida still belonged to 
Spain; but within its boundaries .were congregated the runaway 
negroes of the South, the disaffected Indians, the buccaneer Spa- 
niards, and other impracticable materials. Instigated by British 
adventurers, these renegades and savages waged predatory wars and 
massacres upon the South-western border. To General Jackson 
was committed the defence of this region. He remonstrated with 
the Spanish authorities of Florida. Again his remonstrances were 
unavailing. Thinking that the best way to terminate such a war 
was to carry our arms where our enemies were, he again invaded 
Florida, took St. Marks and Pensacola, hanged the British adven- 
turers, Arburthnot and Ambrister, and put an end to the hostilities. 
Again his country justified his measures. Again his country said 
that he had done what, in all the circumstances, a general of a re- 
public should do. 

Such was the military daring and doing of General Jackson. 
Obedient to the call of his country, he assumed the command. 
Placed in circumstances of peculiar difficulty, he acted the part of 
an energetic and consummate general. Deciding momentous ques- 
tions of national and municiple law, he maintained the honour and 
safety of the country, in the hours of greatest peril. He put him- 
self in the first rank of military men. He became emphatically 
General Jackson. He was at the head of the military part of that 
American influence which has long been acting in the world. It 
was because in him the nation saw a proper type of its own na- 
tional spirit that he merited and received the honours paid to his 
military conduct. Preceding, and during the war of 1812, much 
was said, between the political parties of our country, about fo- 
reign influence. The federalists accused the democrats of being 
under French influence. The democrats recriminated by charging 
the federalists with being under British influence. But the bril- 
liant military career of General Jackson told that there was some- 
thing more in the country than either British or French influence. 
The victories of Talladega, Tohopeka, of Pensacola, and of Or- 
leans, announce pretty decidedly that there was an American in- 
fluence on this side of the Atlantic. What part did General Jack- 
son take in this American influence % He was its military chief. 



286 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

His cannon announced his participation in it. His countrymen 
saw in him the fulness of that national ardour, and of that military 
sagacity which they felt would preserve their country against a 
world in arms. For this reason the nation responded to the cele- 
brated toast of Mr. Jefferson — " Honour and gratitude to the man 
who has filled the measure of his country's glory." 

Let us next look at Andrew Jackson as a political character. 
Let us see in what degree he was a proper political type and repre- 
sentative of the American republic. In his political career, he 
manifested the same devotion to his country, to its honour abroad, 
and to its welfare at home, which had made him so much admired 
in his military life. By education a lawyer, he was intimately 
acquainted with the origin of our government. A young man, in 
the days when our present constitution was ordained and esta- 
blished, he knew its true intent and object. Appointed attorney- 
general of the territory now Tennessee, he was familiar with the 
judicial peculiarities of our constitution. A prominent member 
of the convention which framed the constitution of his state, he 
was well acquainted with the origination and provisions and nature 
of our republican system. In rapid succession, a member of Con- 
gress, a senator of the United States, and a judge of the Supreme 
Court of Tennessee, he saw the practical operation of the national 
and state governments. He saw their interaction. He saw their 
harmonious movements, and penetrated deep into our republican 
organization. Brought, during his military life, into conflict with 
the Spanish government, he understood our national rights and 
foreign relations. Appointed governor of Florida, immediately 
after the purchase of that territory, he was placed in a position of 
more than ordinary civil responsibility. Clothed with undefined 
powers, he was entrusted with the entire executive, military, and 
judicial administration of that region. Nicholas of Russia never 
had as unlimited authority over a district as had Andrew Jackson 
over Florida. What did he do? Become a tyrant ? Hear him : 

" I am clothed," said he, " with powers which no one under a 
republic ought to possess, and which I trust will never again be 
given to any man. Nothing will give me more happiness than to 
learn that Congress in its wisdom shall have distributed them pro- 
perly, and in such a manner as is consonant to our earliest and 
deepest impressions. Yet, as I hold these powers by the authority 
of an act of Congress, it becomes my duty to discharge the sacred 
trust imposed upon me according to the best of my abilities, even 
though the proper exercise of the powers given might involve me 
in heavy personal responsibilities. It has been my misfortune to 
be thus circumstanced in my various relations as a public servant. 
Yet I never have, nor never will I shrink from the discharge of 
my public duties from any apprehension of personal responsibility." 



m'cartney's eulogy. 287 

Spoken in the true tone of an American ! Could Washington 
have spoken more to the republican heart 1 His actions conformed 
to his words. Here was the true republican. 

Schooled by all this preliminary exercise, he was nominated to 
the presidency of the United States, in 1828. On this occasion, 
he passed through a political canvass, which, for searching inquiry 
and party earnestness, has seldom been equalled, and certainly 
never surpassed. But he was the man of the people's choice, and 
entered into the highest office in our republic. Twice was he 
called to the same exalted station, and then, like the Father of his 
Country, he bade farewell to the cares of office, and retired to the 
enjoyments of domestic life. 

His administration is too recent to be correctly appreciated. Its 
results are not yet all developed. His policy was the constant 
theme of political discussion during his continuance in office. The 
measures of his administration can be more properly valued when 
time shall have healed the wounds of party. Future years alone can 
do full justice to the presidential lite of him whose memory we this 
day honour. When time mellows the passions of men, and pure rea- 
son sits in judgment upon the illustrious dead, then is pronounced the 
historical sentence of posterity. What judgment will this posterity 
pass upon Andrew Jackson's presidential life'? We venture the 
prediction that it will leave his name surrounded with the bright- 
est radiated circlet of glory. Our faith in this approbatory decision 
of posterity, rests upon one single fact, and that is, that in his pre- 
sidential as in his military life, he was animated by the pure spirit 
of republicanism. The institutions of his country were his idol. 
For their preservation and purity he laboured. To this labour he 
brought all the enthusiasm of his energetic soul. He saw in the 
institutions of the republic the means of developing the most ex- 
cellent attributes of our nature. He viewed a republic as the only 
government fit for man ; and he looked upon the one over which 
he presided as the most perfect of all republics. To preserve it, to 
exalt it, to render it prosperous and permanent ; this was the ardent 
desire of his patriotic heart. This desire was his guide through the 
eight years of his administration. Here is the foundation of our 
faith. It was because this desire, this ardour, existed in him in its 
fulness, that we believe posterity will pronounce an approbatory 
judgment. 

If we look at the particular acts of his administration, we find 
among them many of very great importance and interest. There 
was the subject of Internal Improvement, the charter of a National 
Bank, the Distribution of the Surplus Revenue, Nullification, the 
French Indemnity, and others. Altogether, they made up a series 
of measures, such as had not been exceeded in magnitude since the 
organization of our government. Not to enter into a detail of these 



288 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

presidential measures, look at one or two of them — Nullification, 
and the French Indemnity, for example. What position did he 
occupy, when Nullification threatened a dissolution of the Union? 
He rallied to his support, the talent and political wisdom of all 
parties. It was in his own native state, that the commotion 
originated. The execution of the laws of the Union, threatened 
serious collision with South Carolina — South Carolina, the land of 
his birth — South Carolina, where in his boyish days, he was made 
"prisoner of war." Yet, what did President Jackson do? In 
language not to be misunderstood, he announced that the laws of 
the Union should be executed. He issued his proclamation, ex- 
planatory of our republican system. He requested peaceable ac- 
quiescence in the laws of the government. Perfectly comprehend- 
ing the origin and nature of our republican organization, he 
hesitated not to declare, that nullification should hide its head. 
Men believe:! that he would be as good as his word. The wise and 
patriotic of the land came up to his help, and the Union was safe. 
Here was the man. The nation saw that his heart and soul were 
devoted to the preservation, and permanent greatness, of the institu- 
tions of his country. Such earnestness, such energy, such singleness 
of purpose, pointed him out as a man who had drunk deep of the 
pure water of republican life. 

Look at one measure more of his administration. Our citizens 
had claims upon France, for spoliations of our commerce, committed 
many years before Jackson was chosen to the presidential chair. 
Careful of the interests of the people, he negotiated with the 
French government, a treaty of indemnity. After the treaty was 
ratified, the French government began to hesitate — to raise difficul- 
ties, to delay paying the money, according to stipulation. What 
did the president then do? Stand still and be trifled with? That 
would have been neither President Jackson, nor General Jackson. 
He demanded of the French government, direct compliance with 
the treaty. He put an end to French trifling, as unceremoniously 
as he had, in former times, put an end to Spanish trifling, in Florida. 
His country saw his energy. His country approved his decisive 
tone. France paid the cash, and the trouble ended. Here again, 
was conduct, such as flows from bold, and fearless, and incorrupt 
patriotism. The nation saw again the man, and felt that he was a 
man after their own heart. In him, they saw the predominance 
of that republican spirit which fired their own souls. A similar 
energy and devotion to the permanent gre.-itness of his country, 
characterized the other acts of his administration. Who will say, 
that the judgment of posterity will not harmonize with the sentence 
of approbation, which, by your presence here, you have this day 
pronounced? Who will say that such a man lived unto himself? 

Look, finally, at Andrew Jackson as a citizen. What is he there ? 



m'cartney's eulogy. 289 

A republican indeed. Liberally educated, he understood his duties 
in all his relations. As a citizen, he had a high reverence for the 
laws of his country. He inculcated, by precept and example, a 
due obedience to them. Look at him at New Orleans, after the 
battle was ended. The enemy had departed. The country was 
safe. Millions were rejoicing. He was the hero. In this hour of 
triumph, he was brought by a civil process before a court, to 
answer for alleged violations of municipal law, during his defence 
of the city. He appeared. The citizens gathered into the court- 
room. The judge announced, that he had violated the laws of the 
land. The crowd murmured. The judge hesitated ; feared to 
pronounce his sentence. " Fear not," said the general, " fear not, 
your honour, the same arm which repelled the invasions of the 
enemy, will protect the deliberations of this court." He waved 
his hand, and the multitude, like the mountain warriors of Roderick 
Dhu, obeyed the signal. Here was submission to a penalty, out of 
reverence for law and order. Here was the genuine republican 
citizen. Fearless and bold in the field, he paid his respects to the 
majesty of the laws of his country. Soldiers ! imitate Andrew 
Jackson in the field, and Andrew Jackson in the court-room at 
Orleans, and our republic will endure 

" Till suns shall set, and rise no more." 

But why multiply examples, confirmatory of the truth, that 
Andrew Jackson was, in private life, a very proper man, a pure 
republican citizen. By a pure republican citizen, I mean a man 
imbued with a spirit that harmonizes with republican institutions, 
which works in them, which sustains, and which would sustain them, 
through all generations of men. That Andrew Jackson was such a 
citizen, is shown by the doings of his life. Such was the soldier, 
the statesman, and the citizen, who has been gathered to his 
fathers. 

In what age did he live? For half a century he mingled in the 
affairs of the world. And where, in all the records of all history, 
is to be found a half century in which the human race made 
mightier movements. In this half century occurred the formation 
and dissolution of European republics, the frightful commotions 
which carried the eagles of France all over the continent, the at- 
tempts at democratic government, the attempts at imperial govern- 
ment, and the triumph of our republican system. Through this 
living, moving, half century, lived Andrew Jackson. How much 
of its life, how much of its real spirit found a home in his bosom'? 
Let the honours freely bestowed by an admiring people answer. 
Such honours spontaneously given point to an excellence that has 
a monument more durable than brass. The Persians, for successive 
generations, adored the very name of their conquered Alexander 
25 



290 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

the Great. What does that signify ? It points unerringly to hira 
as a man possessing excellencies of great estimation in the eyes of 
a Persian. The French continue to revere the very name of Na- 
poleon. What does that signify ? It points unerringly to him as 
the imbodiment of certain excellencies highlv valued through the 
French nation. We likewise honoured the father of his country 
while living. When dead the whole country is his monument. 
What does that signify? It points to him as a man who entered 
with all his talents, and soul, and heart, into the great movement 
with which America moved. In like manner, the national honours 
paid to Andrew Jackson, point him out as a man who lived and 
moved, and had his being under the influence of that spirit which 
pervaded his beloved country. What was the great peculiar move- 
ment in human affairs which marked the age in which he lived? 
The movement was towards the building up of republicanism in 
government. Our own country was the place where this move- 
ment produced its most permanent results. Kings had tried to plant 
and govern colonies in North America, but they failed in the at- 
tempt. Great corporations had tried to plant and govern colonies 
in North America ; they too failed. Feudal nobles had tried to 
plant and govern colonies in North America; they too failed. The 
people, the masses, then came up to the work, and North America 
became the home of republican institutions. When Andrew Jack- 
son was born, in 1767, this movement of the masses was here al- 
ready begun. The whole country, like old ocean, moved in its 
lowest bed in the cause of free, democratic political organization. 

This cause succeeded here. Republicanism became ingrained 
into the very staple and essence of our political being. It became 
inwrought into the whole frame-work of our national organization. 
The picture on the shield of Minerva was so deeply engraved that 
it could not be erased without destroying the shield itself. Repub- 
licanism has been so inwrought into our political and social system 
that it could not be plucked out without tearing to pieces the sys- 
tem itself. To preserve, defend, perfect, and perpetuate these re- 
publican institutions, has, from the nation's birth-day to the present 
hour, been the great work of North America. His share in this 
work crowned Andrew Jackson with all his laurels. 

It would be idle to seek elsewhere for his title to a country's 
gratitude and praise. Other qualities, some good, others blame- 
worthy, he possessed in common with mankind. For these his 
country sits not in judgment upon him. Let it not, however, be 
supposed that his merit is lessened by representing that it springs 
;ilone from his protection and promotion of republican institutions. 
For grant that the human race is advancing to a higher perfection 
of its nature. The establishment of democratic government, we 
believe to be one of the system of agencies by which the energies 



m'cartney's eulogy. 291 

and talents of the race are to be more fully developed. It is a 
means of moral discipline. Andrew Jackson, therefore, by his de- 
votion to republican institutions, was devoted to the advancement 
and moral elevation of mankind. 

The body of the statesman and hero has been consigned 

-"To the dust, 



His good sword to rust, 

His soul is with the saints, we trust." 

The heart loves to sympathise with such a man in all that relates 
to him. In his pleasant abode at the Hermitage he enjoyed the 
tranquillity of domestic life. Among neighbours he was a most 
neighbourly man. To all who visited him he was a most hospita- 
ble man. 

In the latter part of his life he connected himself with the Pres- 
byterian church in his vicinity, and acknowledged, by profession 
and practice, the power of religion. He seemed in the evening 
of life to open his eyes on more magnificent visions. He looked 
upon the republican institutions of his country, and saw in them 
not the end nor the highest good of man. He saw in them the 
means of more fully developing the intellectual and moral life of 
humanity. He saw in them the means of a higher civilization, 
and looking farther on he saw this higher civilization linking in 
with Christianity, and becoming animated with the pure life of the 
gospel. He seemed to see what the individual and the race would 
become if all would drink of the pure river of the water of life, which 
flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. He fixed the eye 
of faith upon the Redeemer of the World, looked forward to a 
purer state of being, and troubled not himself about the theological 
discovery of 1844, that there is no resurrection of the body. But 
full of faith, full of heavenly hope, conscious that he had lived not 
unto himself, he closed his eyes on the Lord's day, June the 8th, 
1845. He retired like one who, having, laboured through a long 
toilsome day, when evening comes, 

"Wraps the drapery of his couch 



About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams." 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT NATCHEZ, MISS., JULY 12, 1845, 



BV 



Dr. SAMUEL A. CARTWRIGHT 



The ends of living having been fulfilled, our beloved Andrew 
Jackson, on the 8th of June last, closed his earthly career. No 
age will come so ignorant or unjust as not to see and own his 
efficient agency in promoting the honour and glory of his country. 
" No age will come when he will appear less than he is in the his- 
tory of America." 

Born on the 15th of March, 1767, in Waxhaw Settlement, South 
Carolina, at the early age of thirteen, he took a part in the Revo- 
lutionary war. His life affords proof that it was a gift of Provi- 
dence, being miraculously preserved until the great object of 
living had ceased. His death also affords a strong proof that Pro- 
vidence smiles on our country's benefactors. Washington and 
Jackson, living together in the pages of American history and 
in the hearts of their countrymen, are not separated in time and in 
eternity. To their country they live, and live for ever. Dying, 
they have both left the world a light. Bright examples of Chris- 
tianity, united with the greatest heroism and patriotism. 

Most sensibly do I feel every way unqualified to do justice, on 
the present occasion, to the memory of our glorious Jackson, save 
only in a strong and abiding love and admiration for his character; 
and having treasured up his noble deeds in my memory, impressed 
there as their recital came warm from the hearts of some of his 
nearest and dearest friends. Should I dwell on those actions and 
achievements, which are well known to all the world, I would 
only be a lame imitator of what a thousand presses and a thousand 
orators have already proclaimed in strains far surpassing any thing 
I could hope to reach. Rather let it be my humbler task to call 
to mind those occurrences in the great hero's life which more par- 
ticularly connected him with the people of Mississippi. 

(292} 



cartwkight's eulogy. 293 

Natchez, and Adams county, was the theatre of a most remarka- 
ble event in General Jackson's life, worthy of particular study and 
remembrance in all time to come. In the year 1812, after the 
disasters on the Canada frontier, General Jackson hoisted the 
standard of liberty in his own neighbourhood, and soon had twenty- 
five hundred brave fellows around it. He wrote to the secretary 
of war, that he and his troops, were at the service of the govern- 
ment, and "were ready to go where duty and danger called them." 
The secretary ordered him to Natchez. On the 7th of January, 
1813, they left Nashville in flat-boats, breaking their way through 
the ice, in the Cumberland, and the Ohio, and soon arrived in 
Natchez. He pitched his camp in this vicinity, four miles distant, 
on what is now Mr. M'Cullough's plantation. Here, while occu- 
pied in disciplining and drilling his troops, he received orders to 
disband them, and deliver every article of public property to 
General Wilkinson, of the regular service. He refused to obey the 
order, because he could not obey it without violating a higher 
authority, than any that mortal man can give — his moral obligations. 
He had pledged the faith and honour of a soldier, to his men, to 
their mothers, and to their wives, before he took them from home, 
that he would act as a father towards them, and would see them all 
safely back, that did not gloriously fall in the service of their 
country. To leave one hundred and fifty of his men on the sick 
list, fifty-six not able to raise their heads, and the balance of his 
troops, without money, or means to defray their expenses home, 
thus forcing them to enlist in the regular service against their will, 
would, he thought, be a moral delinquency on his part, which 
nothing could excuse. 

Wilkinson tried to terrify him, and turn him from his purpose, 
by admonishing him of the " awful and dangerous responsibility 
of an officer refusing to obey the orders of his superior/' But 
Andrew Jackson was thinking of the duty he owed to his troops, not 
of any personal consequences to himself. He had never been in 
military service before. To begin his military career, by refusing 
to obey the orders of the secretary of war, would, he knew, be a 
death-blow to his ambition, as an officer under the government; but 
he was more ambitious of fulfilling his promise, and keeping his 
word, than of trying to ingratiate himself into the good opinion of 
the government. Hence, in the outset of life as a military man, 
he fearlessly met the frowns of Wilkinson and the secretary of war, 
for the peace of an approving conscience. He told Wilkinson that 
he " had promised to take the troops back, and back he would 
take them, and abide the consequences." He also threatened to 
drum any recruiting officer out of his camp, who should come 
among his men to decoy any of them into the regular service, until 
he got them home. He was their protector, and he would not let 
25* 



294- 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



them be forced by their necessities to enlist. The quarter-master 
refused the necessary supply of wagons, to transport the sick. 
General Jackson gave up his own horses to them, borrowed on his 
own account, five thousand dollars, of a merchant in Natchez, to 
defray the expenses of the troops, and went on foot with the com- 
mon soldier, through the wilderness to Nashville. Arrived there, 
he wrote to the secretary of war, that, although he had refused to 
obey his orders, to disband his army at Natchez, it was not from 
any disposition on his part to be disobedient to the higher authority ; 
that he considered such obedience most binding, in all cases not 
plainly and palpably conflicting with higher, and more sacred 
duties, as his late order did ; but that, if he would order him to 
Canada, he promised, not only to obey the order cheerfully, but to 
try and plant the banner of his country, on the British forts at 
Maiden. 

Fortunately, for us of the South, the secretary did not accept 
of his services. General Jackson's conduct here, in 1813, if well 
studied, gives the key to his whole character. What he believed 
to be his first duty, he would always perform, regardless of personal 
consequences to himself. As it was his first duty to protect the 
young men entrusted to his charge, and to see them safely home, sc 
likewise, when entrusted with the defence of this south-western 
country, his first duty, in his estimation, was to protect the inhabi- 
tants from the enemy. He did not believe that he was sent here 
to quibble, argue, or discuss, mooted points of constitutional law, 
or the law of nations, but to save New Orleans from seizure by the 
enemy, and the inhabitants from a brutal soldiery. To defend the 
country, was his first duty, and if, in the discharge of this high 
duty, he should do anything, not warranted by the constitution, or 
in violation of the laws, he stood ready to pay the penalty. What 
though Andrew Jackson suffers, is fined, or imprisoned, provided 
he drives back the British invaders, and rescues the women and 
children of the Mississippi territory, from Britain's savage ally, of 
the tomahawk and scalping-knife. Love of country filled his whole 
heart, and in bending all his energies to the defence of the people, 
who looked to him for protection, he seems never to have thought 
of Andrew Jackson. Self, and all considerations connected with 
self, were banished from his bosom, and his country, one, and in- 
divisible, filled and swelled his whole soul. Acting on the prin- 
ciple, that he belonged to his country, and should freely risk health, 
fame, fortune, life, everything, in its defence, induced many per- 
sons to misunderstand the man, and to suppose, that he was acting 
on the principle of Cresar, Napoleon, and other tyrants — as if the 
country belonged to him, and not he to the country. His submis- 
sion, however, to the civil authority, when all danger was over, 
and his bowing, in meekness, to the decision of Judge Hall, and 



cartwright's eulogy. 295 

cheerfully paying the fine, imposed upon him for alleged violation of 
law, is the best proof in the world, that he was not a tyrant, come 
to destroy liberty, but a whole souled-patriot, come to defend it, 
and ready, if need be, like a martyr, to suffer in its cause. He 
was patriotism personified. 

One among the many instances wherein his countrymen have 
not been unanimous in doing justice to General Jackson's character 
and services, his invasion of Florida, and taking of Pensacola, in 
1814, stands conspicuous. Mr. Adams has given an elaborate de- 
fence of his conduct on that occasion. Nevertheless, it is still 
viewed by a respectable minority as an unwarrantable stretch of 
power, and as a dangerous example — more especially as General 
Jackson wrote to the government, asking for permission, and the 
government did not choose to reply. As nearly a tenth of his 
whole army, on that occasion, was composed of Mississinpians, a 
portion of whom are still living, and present in this vast assem- 
blage, here congregated in honour of his memory, it may not be 
unappropriate to call to mind a few of the facts and circumstances, 
in justification of the invasion, in addition to those adduced by Mr. 
Adams, while the witnesses are still living to substantiate them. 
General Jackson had authority to invade Florida, at least on au- 
thority which no Mississippian can gainsay. It was written in the 
blood of Mississippi, of her women and children, and more particu- 
larly, in that of a gallant officer of this our city of Natchez. 

General Jackson had frequently complained to the governor of 
Pensacola, by repeated letters and special messengers, of his viola- 
tion of the laws of nations, for permitting that town to be used as 
a rallying point of the enemies of the United States, both British 
and Indians. One of the messengers whom he had sent to Pensa- 
cola, Captain Gordon, a most gallant officer, reported that he saw 
in Pensacola and its vicinity, one hundred and fifty British officers, 
a park of artillery, and about five hundred Indians, dressed in Bri- 
tish uniform, and under drill by British officers, and that the incen- 
diary, Colonel Nichols, had taken up his quarters at the governor's. 
But to make assurance doubly sure, our townsman, Lieutenant Mur- 
ry, of the Adams County Guards, with twenty-five men, was sent 
to reconnoitre Pensacola and the Barrancas, to report the truth of 
the matter. They saw seven British armed vessels in the bay, and 
the British Jack hoisted by the side of the Spanish flag, on the 
walls of the Barrancas. Returning, within three miles of Pensa- 
cola an Indian warrior started up, threw up his hands in token of 
peace, but soon picked an opportunity, and gave Lieutenant Murry 
a mortal wound. The report of the Indian's rifle was answered 
from the fort and the town, and the detachment had to hasten on- 
wards to avoid capture. The desperate savage, who, like the rest 
of the Creeks, had been inflamed to madness, by such incendiaries 



296 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

as Nichols and Woodbine, was despatched on the spot, and Lieu- 
tenant Murry was put on horseback, and the troop proceeded. It 
had gone but a short distance, when it was perceived that the lieu- 
tenant was dead. In full hearing of the whoops, yells, and firing, 
indicating a pursuit, the troop halted at a little hole in the earth, 
or ravine, and laid the body of our townsman therein, " with his 
martial cloak around him ;" a little earth and leaves were hastily 
thrown over his remains, our worthy fellow-citizen, Mr. Robert 
Dunbar, assisting in the mournful obsequies, and speedily they 
pushed forward to the American camp. 

Arrived there, as soon as General Jackson found that the detach- 
ment had lost its leader, and heard the circumstances of his death, 
how he was treacherously murdered on the neutral territory by a 
desperate savage, and that hundreds of such savages were fed and 
fostered by the Spanish authorities, and drilled and armed by Bri- 
tish officers, " he gave orders to march on Pensacola." In a few 
days thereafter he was before the city — when our gallant army 
came to the line, separating the United States from Florida, it did 
not stop to chatter about constitutional law, nor to demand of their 
general his authority for crossing. They all saw his authority. It 
was written in letters of blood, and the fresh blood of a fellow-sol- 
dier, shed on the neutral territory, was crying from the ground for 
vengeance. " When we came within a mile," says General Jack- 
son, in one of his despatches, " we were in full view. Never was 
my pride more heightened, than in viewing the uniform firmness 
of my troops, and with that undaunted courage they advanced, 
with a strong fort ready to assail them on the right, and seven Bri- 
tish armed vessels on the left, strong block-houses and batteries of 
cannon on their front, but with unshaken firmness they entered the 
town." They stormed the batteries at the point of the bayonet, 
soon had possession of the place, and the governor suing for mercy 
at their feet. General Jackson required a surrender of the forts. 
The governor promised to surrender them, if a force were dis- 
played before them. The Mississippi Dragoons were ordered to 
display before one of the forts, and the treacherous garrison fired 
on them. The cannon was then ordered up and pointed at the fort, 
and it surrendered. General Jackson, under the rules of war, 
might have put the garrison to the sword, but he was a tendpr- 
hearted and humane man, whenever his country's interest did not 
require him to be hard-hearted and severe. 

In the mean time the British vessels in the bay were annoying 
our army with their guns, anchored off, as they supposed, in safety 
from the American fire. But to their great astonishment they saw 
two pieces of heavy cannon move down upon the beach, where 
open, exposed, and uncovered, Lieutenant McCall gave them a fire 
so brisk and well aimed, as soon to drive the flotilla off. 



cartwright's eulogy. 297 

As yet, the Barrancas and the adjacent fortresses, ten or fifteen 
miles west of Pensacola, were in the possesssion of the British. 
General Jackson had got everything ready to take the Barrancas 
by storm. But the British blew up the forts and retreated from 
the bay. Their Indian allies, being abandoned, fled to the Appala- 
chicola. Major Blue was sent to pursue them, and to break up a 
depot of supplies the enemy had provided for them there. 

Two days after entering Pensacola, General Jackson restored it 
to Governor Manrequez, and withdrew his troops, informing the 
governor that he held himself responsible for any injury that the 
public or private property of the Spaniards had sustained by the 
American troops. The Spaniards lost the Barrancas and the ad- 
jacent fortress, by their friends, the British, who also took with 
them three or four hundred of the Spaniard's negroes; but they lost 
not a cent's worth of property by the Americans. The British, 
mistaking General Jackson's character, and supposing him to be a 
lawless invader, coming not only to seize, but to hold the province, 
determined to deprive him of the Barrancas, and the neighbouring 
fortresses, and hence blew them up. They thus unconsciously 
played into the hands of General Jackson, from ignorance of his 
character. The British, in blowing up the forts of a neutral power, 
themselves violated the laws of nations, gained the ill will of their 
late friends, the Spaniards, deprived themselves and their savage 
allies of protection and shelter in Florida, and thus accomplished 
every object, that General Jackson had in view, by the very means 
used to counteract his supposed designs. The blows levelled against 
the ideal tyrant, were only so many blows to assist the real patriot. 

One of the principal reasons why General Jackson was never 
conquered in the field, and no matter what the odds against him, 
never lost a battle, and never failed, as a statesman, to carry out 
every measure he recommended, was owing to his opponents mis- 
understanding him, and directing all their energies against an ima- 
ginary personage, while he, with bosom bare, and eye fixed on 
God and his country, was approaching his object, unharmed by the 
blows which fell thick and heavy on some imaginary character 
that had been mistaken for him. Thus, at Emuckfaw, the Indians, 
mistaking the character of the man they had to deal with, planned 
an attack against a sleepy-headed general, ignorant of the woods, 
and unconscious of danger, intending to surprise him in the night, 
and utterly exterminate his little army. But he seized hold of the 
very means, which he foresaw that the enemy were about to use 
against him, and gained a glorious victory. 

With a little army of raw recruits, wearied with long marches, 
with nothing but parched corn to eat, General Jackson found him- 
self surrounded by nearly the whole nation of Creek Indians, lying 
in three bodies near the Emuckfaw Creek. So far from retreating, 



298 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

he boldly encamped for the night, and lit up fires, as if he appre- 
hended no danger ; the Indians supposing that they would have 
nothing to do but to surprise him and cut off his men by the light 
of their own fires, while they stood securely in the dark. A little 
before day, they made the attack, but instead of surprising General 
Jackson, he surprised them by a well-aimed and most destructive 
fire. To their utter astonishment, General Jackson had, on this 
great emergency, used darkness as a mantle to cover his men from 
their view, and had, at the same time, made a circle of light out- 
side of his camp to expose the enemy. All this he effected by 
camp-fires, built just far enough beyond the hollow square, on which 
he formed his little army, as to compel the Indians, as soon as they 
got in good rifle range, to come within the circle of light, where 
blinking, they could see nothing, while the lurid glare of light en- 
circling the camp exposed their bodies, like so many red targets, 
to the American rifle from the dark circle within, where stood the 
great hero and his little band, with the imponderable elements of 
light and darkness pressed into his service to make him equal to the 
enemy. 

When morning came, so many hundreds of the bravest Indian 
warriors had fallen, that the hero was enabled to maintain his 
ground against the remainder. They, however, fought him nearly 
the whole day, and two days afterwards they came very near de- 
feating him, owing to a panic that seized the troops on being at- 
tacked while crossing Ennotochopco Creek. A few men alone 
stood firm. Carroll was left with only twenty men. Armstrong, 
of the artillery, had fallen, badly wounded. Captain Quarles, Bird, 
Evans, and Captain Hamilton lay dead at his side. Hamilton's 
father and his two sons, Russell, of the spies, and his three sons, 
the venerable Judge Cocke, of Columbus, and some few young 
men, maintained the fight around the cannon, until General Jack- 
son could form his panic-stricken army, recross the creek, and 
come to their aid. The gallant Coffee, though wounded through 
the body two days before, sprang from the litter on which he was 
carried, mounted his horse, and assisted greatly in restoring order 
— General Jackson pointing at General Coffee and telling his men 
"We'll whip them, the dead have risen and come to our aid." 
Armstrong, though wounded, and supposed to be dead, called out 
from the heaps of dead bodies around him — " Save the gun." This 
is the individual to whom General Jackson left his sword. 

The English, as well as some of our own countrymen, are very 
prone to attribute too much to cotton bales, in making General Jack- 
son a great man, and enabling him to triumph over the veteran 
soldiers of Wellington. Still they confess that they cannot under- 
stand why troops, that in Spain scaled forts and ramparts of solid 
rock forty feet high, strongly garrisoned and mounted with heavy 



cartwright's eulogy. 299 

guns, should not have been able to leap over a breastwork of a few- 
cotton bales at New Orleans. If they will read the light and dark- 
ness battle at Emuckfaw, and the battle of Ennotochopco, Talle- 
dega, Talleshatche, and the Horseshoe, they will understand it. 
At all those places, General Jackson met and subdued an enemy, 
native born sons of the American forest, so brave, desperate, and 
ferocious, that his subsequent battles with the British were only 
play in comparison to his hard fighting with desperate and well- 
armed savages in their own wilderness. 

It is too common to look upon his Indian battles as mere skir- 
mishes in comparison to the great battle of New Orleans, on the 
8th of January. Yet, at the Horseshoe, about as many Indian 
warriors were killed as British soldiers on the 8th of January. The 
Indians were also strongly fortified, were well armed, and fought 
more desperately than any British soldiers ever did. Let it also 
be remembered, that on the 23d of December, there were no cotton 
bales between the few regulars, militia, and volunteers, under Ge- 
neral Jackson, and the flower of Wellington's troops ; so far from 
it, several times during the battle, in open field, the British troops, 
though superior in numbers, retreated behind ditches and fences for 
shelter, and were as many times driven from their position by the 
Americans charging them in their fastnesses, until they made the 
boastful conquerors of Europe give ground about a mile. 

Are these things so? There are some in this assembly who know 
that they are so. One in particular is here* present, who defended 
the American artillery, at the battle of the 23d December, in open 
field, against, I think, no less than three several charges made 
against it by the veritable wall-sealers, the pride and boast of the 
British army. The remnant of the Natchez and Adams county 
soldiers is here, whose gallantry at New Orleans- on the 8th, id 
promptly crossing the river to meet the forces that were in pursuit 
of Morgan, won for them the appellative of " honourable and con- 
spicuous."! A portion of the remnant of the Mississippi dragoons 
are here, whom General Jackson, on the plains of New Orleans, 
pronounced to be ''the glory of one army and the admiration of 
the other." (See Niles's Register, vol. vii. p. 404.) One at least 
of those brave tars is here,J who fought on the 8th of January, 
under Commodore Patterson, as gallantly at New Orleans as he had 
before done under Decatur, at Tripoli. But, alas! I see none of 
Lieutenant Jones's men here, who with five boats against forty-three, 
and one hundred and eighty-two men against twelve hundred, 
twice repulsed the enemy, in Lake Borgne, in attempting to board; 
with immense destruction sunk two of his boats, one of them car- 

* Col. H. Chotard. 

t Letter of General Jackson to Colonel J. C. Wilkins, their captain. 

X Captain J. B. Nevitt, of the American tars. 



300 



MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 



rying down one hundred and eighty of the enemy, and never sur- 
rendered, until their officers were cut down and themselves over- 
powered hy superior numbers — thus preserving unsullied the 
American flag on the sea. 

It is not to inflate national vanity or to swell a light and empty 
feeling of self-importance in our people, that I call to mind those 
noble exploits of by-gone times. The hero under whose eye and 
direction they were performed is no more; and we are here assem- 
bled, with a small remnant of his gallant army amongst us. The 
frosts of thirty winters have whitened their locks since those ex- 
ploits, cooling ambition and the fire of youth. They are not before 
the public for any office. My object is not to flatter them, though 
they deserve all praise ; nor is it to draw an invidious distinction 
between the older settlements and the newly-settled portions of 
Mississippi. It is well known that a large portion of General Jack- 
son's Tennessee riflemen have found happy homes in that portion 
of Mississippi lately acquired from the Indians; and there is not a 
state iji the Union, not even Tennessee, which has a larger propor- 
tion of his old soldiers in it than our state of Mississippi. Allusion, 
therefore, has been made to their noble deeds, to induce the present 
and rising generation, as well as all emigrants to our state, come 
from what quarter they may, to look back upon our veterans and 
their noble chief for lights and examples in all questions touching 
the well-earned glory, honour, and fame of Mississippi in particu- 
lar and the United States in general. 

America is bound up in fortune and fate with the great interests 
of free government, religious toleration, common-school instruction, 
and in every thing tending to the universal diffusion of knowledge, 
liberty, and happiness among the masses of the people. We have 
heard the immortal words of our great chief, "Extend ike area of 
freedom." To carry out that design, we must cherish the virtues 
and principles of our fathers. The diffusion of knowledge, the 
cultivation of the moral virtues, encouragement to the industry of 
our mechanics, manufacturers, artisans, and those engaged in com- 
merce and agriculture, and the maintenance of an unsullied reputa- 
tion before the world, will, if we look back upon the whole life of 
him whose memory we this day celebrate, be found no less essen- 
tial, in his estimation, in the great work of "extending the area 
of freedom," than our late territorial acquisitions. 

It is good to look back occasionally to see what we were and to 
see how much has been done for us, that we may the better under- 
stand what it becomes us to do. In 1813, no American freemen 
were residing in the South-west, except a few living in little scol- 
lops cut out of an immense wilderness filled with hostile savages. 
Our whole numbers, put together in all the country now composing 
the three states of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, did not 



cartwright's eulogy. 301 

amount, according to the census of 1810, to as many as 150,000 
souls, nearly half of whom were negroes. Adams county alone 
contained one-seventh part of the whole population of the territory 
now constituting the states of Alabama and Mississippi. The 
population of Louisiana was but 76,000. The whole country south 
of Kentucky and the Carolinas, from the Atlantic on the east to 
the western limits of Louisiana and to the Gulf of Mexico and the 
American boundary line south, did not contain as many inhabit- 
ants, including Georgia, as Georgia alone now contains. Jt now 
contains more than the whole United States in the days of the Re- 
volution. 

Georgia was one of the original thirteen states, and ceded the 
territory now constituting Alabama and Mississippi, on condition 
that the United States would remove the Indians from be}'ond her 
present limits. It was not until General Jackson's administration, 
that the United States fulfilled its stipulations with Georgia. The 
fairest and largest portion of that state remained a savage wilder- 
ness from the days of the Revolution to late in General Jackson's 
presidential term. A large part of Tennessee and a good portion 
of Kentucky, nearly the whole of Alabama, and more than three- 
fourths of Mississippi, in I8l3, was occupied by Indians, most of 
whom were bitterly hostile, and continued to be thus occupied 
until General Jackson came into power. 

In 1813, our country was engaged in war with the most formi- 
dable power of Europe — a power which had not only excited the 
savages on our northern border to raise the tomahawk against us, 
but had sent missionary fire-brands, Tecumseh, Colonel Nichols, 
Woodbine, and others, to inflame our southern Indians to hostility, 
and even to stir up our negroes. 

Late in the year 1813, the Indians began their massacres in good 
earnest. All along the Tennessee line, and the Georgia frontier, 
we began to hear of families butchered by the Indians, the men 
shot down, and children butchered, and torn to pieces with dogs, in 
view of their mothers. Even on Duck River, scarcely a day's 
ride from Nashville, such scenes are heard of. At length, about 
the 1st of September, 1813, three huudred of our Mississippians, 
including men, women, and children, were butchered and burnt at 
Fort Mims — the Indians dancing around the houses on fire, and 
with savage joy, beholding our men dead in the basement, and the 
women and children, in the upper story, encircled in the lambent 
flames — the very Indians whom we had, for twenty years or more, 
been trying, at great expense, to civilize and christianize. 

There was then living on the banks of the Cumberland, an in- 
dividual whom the world knew not of. He had lately been unfor- 
tunate in mercantile business, sold his plantation, paid his debts, and 
built a cabin in sight of the plantation sold, and went to work to 
26 



302 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

retrieve his fortune — setting an example of industry, method, and 
economy, worthy to be followed by all agriculturists. He wielded 
the axe, guided the plough, and made, with his own hands, the 
most of his farming utensils — as nature had made him a mechanic, 
besides making him a statesman and soldier. 

But what brought him to the Cumberland. He visited the place, 
for the first time, in 1789, while the people were living in stations, 
to avoid the Indians, the chief station being where Nashville now 
is. He found, among the good and honest people there, a club of 
lawless characters, who had combined together to put down law, 
and order, and evade the payment of their just debts. For this 
purpose, they had got the resident lawyer in their interest, and the 
creditors had no one to appear for them. 

They engaged the young Jonesborough lawyer to undertake their 
cause. The club of desperadoes, finding that he was not deterred 
from the undertaking by their threats of vengeance, taunted him 
with being anon-resident, coming among them only as an itinerant, 
under the protection of the courts. That taunt, it is said, was the 
true cause of his leaving Jonesborough, and settling at the Nashville 
station. The lawless characters pitched their bullies against him, 
yet he maintained his ground against the whole of them. Wash- 
ington, the very next year after his removal to Nashville, appointed 
him United States attorney, for the whole district south of the 
Ohio. How far, the stand he took in favour of law, induced 
Washington to give him the preference over the older lawyers of 
the district, history is silent. At length, having made a fortune, he 
retired to a farm, ten miles from Nashville, abandoned the law, and 
commenced farming and merchandising. Failing in the latter, he 
sold his farm, paid his debts, and built him a log-cabin on the Cum- 
berland, and by economy and industry, had again, by the year 1813, 
accumulated a comfortable independence. 

On this farm, he was residing, when news of the massacre 
of the people of the Mississippi territory, by the Creek Indians, 
at Fort Mims, reached him. He raised his eyes to Heaven, 
as if in prayer, and in his own strong language, said, "Let them 
repent it in bitterness and tears. Let the torch, which they have 
lighted, blaze in the heart of their own country." He, forthwith, 
appealed to the patriotism of his country, and soon found himself 
at the head of an army, bending his footsteps towards the Mississippi 
territory, without money, provisions, or camp equipage. 

In the meantime, the people of the Mississippi territory were in 
utter consternation, the few inhabitants, in what are now our sea- 
shore counties, had fled to the islands in the Gulf of Mexico. The 
settlers on the Tombigbee, and Alabama, sought refuge in Mobile, 
and did not consider themselves safe there. Our eastern counties, 
poured in their population upon Natchez, and Adams county, 



cartwright's eulogy. 303 

coming here, as they supposed, to make their last stand against the 
numerous hordes of Indians of the wide world of wilderness around. 
They breathed a little freer, on hearing that the Indians thought 
there was not blood enough in Natchez, and Adams county, to satisfy 
their thirst, that they wanted to drink deep and full, in the more 
populous settlements in Tennessee, and were on their way there, 
intending to give us a call on their return. 

At length, in Marschalk's little newspaper, the oniy one in the 
territory for a long time, a despatch appeared, dated November 4th, 
1813, a little more than two months after the massacre at Fort 
Mims. It began thus : — " We have retaliated for the destruction 
of Fort Mims; one hundred and eighty-six of the enemy are dead 
on the field, and about eighty taken prisoners.^ At the bottom 
of the despatch, was a name, then unknown to fame, it was the 
name of Andrew Jackson, his first introduction to the American 
people as a soldier. While the people are wondering, if it were 
possible that such good news could be true, and if this was the man 
who had disobeyed orders at Natchez, another despatch arrived, 
containing the particulars of the great battle of Talladega, fought a 
week afterwards, giving the glorious news that two hundred and 
ninety of the murderers of our citizens, at Fort Mims, were left 
dead on the field — signed Andrew Jackson, his second appearance 
before the American people. But then the bad news arrives, that 
General Jackson is starving in the wilderness, deserted by his men, 
and he, and they, are on their way home, eating acorns, for the 
want of food. 

Two months afterwards, he again introduces himself to the pub- 
lic, the third time at the head of a new army, by a despatch, con- 
taining an account of the three great battles fought at the Emuck- 
faw, the hardest he ever fought. Again, he is forced to retire from 
the enemy's country, for the want of supplies, and troops refusing 
to serve longer. Yet, in less than two months more, he is again 
in the heart of the enemy's country, with a newly raised army, and 
fights the battle of the Horseshoe, or Tohopeka, killing eight hun- 
dred warriors, and ends the war, as far as the Indians are concerned. 
This battle was fought the latter part of March, 1814. 

We next find him at Mobile, repairs Fort Boyer, which had been 
abandoned, putting a garrison in it, under Major Lawrence, who 
beat off ten times the number of British and Indians, who attacked 
the fort in September, by sea and by land ; then at Pensacola, and on 
the 1st of December, 1814, arrives, for the first time, in New Or- 
leans, where he wound up the war in a blaze of glory, and immor- 
talized his name. 

General Jackson was not, as some suppose, a bigoted party man, 
driving principles to extremes, for the sake of the principle, regardless 
of its effects upon the country. He looked upon principles, as 



304 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

upon all human things, as finite, as having a terminus, like moun- 
tain ridges, affording good, firm roads, for a greater or less distance, 
but ending in precipices, or morasses, if pursued too far. When 
on principle, he pursued it with ardour; his driving was like that 
of Jehu ; it was furiously. It he went farther than some men 
would think prudent, yet he knew when, and where, to stop in 
safety. If he thought the safety of his country required it, he 
would press the principles of either political party into his service. 
Thus, when he believed that his native state had misunderstood, or 
was pushing Jefferson's principles too far, he did not scruple to 
throw all his weight on the opposite, or Hamiltonian principle. But 
before doing so, he recommended, in his message, that measures be 
taken to remove the grievances complained of. On the great 
tariff question, he stood between the two extremes, with the word 
"judicious," inscribed on his flag; not so little as to make us de- 
pendent on Europe, yet not so great as to foster oppressive mo- 
nopolies. 

His letters to President Monroe did much to soften the asperity 
of party feeling, which, in the war, a short time before, had run 
so high as to make some men forget that they had a country to 
defend. His country, his whole country, and nothing but his 
country, was the corner-stone of Jackson's political creed. Unlike 
Robespierre, who, in the French assembly, cried out, " Perish 
France, and the colonies, but save the principle, or the party ;" 
General Jackson would have exclaimed, " Perish principle, perish 
party, but save the country." " The Union must be preserved," 
not that the principle must be preserved, whether Jefferson's, or 
anybody else's, but " The Union must be preserved." General 
Jackson seems to have viewed principles and systems, in the same 
light that Hippocrates, the father of physicians, viewed them in 
medicine. This or that principle, system, or theory, to be acted 
on, according to the circumstances of the case. The heating, the 
cooling, the let alone, or the forcing; anything, to save the patient. 
Pushing principles to the extremes, for the sake of the principle, 
regardless of its effects, is what ruined the French republic. Boli- 
var, in trying to be a greater patriot, and more of a republican, 
than Washington, ruined his country. He pushed the principles 
of liberty so far, as to apply it to the negroes of Colombia. Where 
is Colombia ? Torn to pieces by factions, growing out of loose 
or fanatical notions of liberty. Liberty, consistent with subordina- 
tion, order, law, human happiness, and human improvement, seems 
to have been the kind of liberty, and the only kind of liberty, that 
Andrew Jackson, and, in fact, all of our Revolutionary fathers, 
cared for, fought for, or wished to establish. 

If he should be called a benefactor of mankind, who can make 
two blades of grass grow where only one grew before, what are 



cartwright's eulogy. 305 

we to think of our glorious Jackson ? Answer, ye two millions of 
happy people, who have made the wilderness in Georgia, Tennes- 
see, Alabama, and Mississippi, so lately the abode of ferocious sa- 
vages, blossom as the rose. Ye, of the older settlements in Georgia, 
Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, and Louisiana, what think 
you of the man whose policy has put two millions (a number about 
equal to the whole population of the United States, in 1776) of 
friends and defenders in that very wilderness around you, so lately 
filled with discontented savages, ready to fall upon you with the 
tomahawk at the instigation of incendiaries, or whenever they found 
you pressed by an enemy ? You are thankful, you are grateful for 
the peace and security which Andrew Jackson has been instru- 
mental in giving you, beyond what tongue can tell. As we pass 
away, others will come to honour the memory, and bless the name 
of Andrew Jackson. The two millions, now in the territory he so 
lately acquired from the Indians, will ere long become four mil- 
lions. As time rolls on, each generation will bring with it in- 
creasing millions to swell the throng of Andrew Jackson's admirers, 
and to gaze on his star in the galaxy of American patriots, the 
brightest of all save one, our glorious Washington. Ere long, in- 
numerable multitudes, towards the setting sun, will rise up to thank 
him who brought them into the fold of the American Union, and 
as they pass away, others more numerous will come to lisp his 
praise, and to vie with the other patriots of this great empire of 
republican freemen, in honouring the name of him whose memory 
we this day celebrate. 

In New Orleans General Jackson won a large portion of hi-, 
worldly fame, by gaining a victory over the conquerors of Europe 
and Napoleon; but here in Natchez, fifty-four years ago, a kind 
Providence, that we blind mortals saw not, gave him a pilot in 
pious woman's form, who showed him the way to gain the victory 
over self, to conquer death, and he won a place in Heaven. 
26* 



"\ 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT LANCASTER, OHIO, JULY 12, 1845, 



BY 



WILLIAM IRVIN, Esq, 



My Fellow-Citizens : — By the Providence of God, a grateful 
people are called upon to pay the last sad tributes of respect to one 
of its greatest benefactors. Andrew Jackson, the hero, the pa- 
triot, and the sage, is no more. He has gone down to the tomb, 
full of years and full of honours. How deeply enshrined he is in 
the hearts of his countrymen, let the tributes that are now being 
paid by a nation to his memory express. When we cease to feel 
gratitude to those great men, who, by their courage in the field, 
and wisdom in council, won for, and secured to us, the liberties we 
possess, and the glorious institutions we now enjoy, then, indeed, 
will we be unworthy of the name of freemen — unworthy of the 
blessings conferred on us by our brave sires, and purchased by their 
blood and treasure. Andrew Jackson was a patriot. Deep and 
unfathomable was the love he bore for America, the land of his birth. 
From early boyhood to green old age, he bore his life in his hand, 
ever ready to offer it as a sacrifice on the altar of his country. 
How proud ought we to be. both of the institutions which gave 
birth to such deep love, and of the man. Sparta has long ceased 
to exist ;. but so long as time endures, will the love of country, that 
prompted Leonidas and his brave compatriots, to offer themselves 
as living sacrifices for the country's safety, be cherished and re- 
membered in the hearts of men. The love which Leonidas bore 
for Sparta, was not greater than that which Jackson bore for Ame- 
rica. He, in whose breast there is a spark of patriotic fire, will 
feel a pleasure and a pride in doing justice to such exalted worth, 
no matter to what sect or party he may belong, — and, as he ap- 
proaches to the grave, enmity must be swallowed up in grief for 
the death of the patriotic chief. 

But tbou :h he has gone, he has left behind him the record of 

(806) 



jrvin's eulogy. 307 

his virtues and his worth ; and as long as time endures, and our in- 
stitutions last, the American, as he reads the pages of history, 
whereon are spread out the noble principles by which he was go- 
verned, and the incidents and achievements of his romantic and 
adventurous life, will exclaim with pride — " he was my country- 
man !" 

Yes, my fellow-citizens, — living, he was ever ready to serve us, 
and dead, he has left to us as rich a legacy as man ever left to a 
grateful people. His virtues have won for him a place in the tem- 
ple of fame with the immortal Washington. There, side by side, 
let them stand, — and as our youth grow up from generation to 
generation, and gaze upon them, oh, may they learn from them 
the lesson, how in war to be heroes, in peace statesmen and patriots, 
and plain and simple republicans always. 

Time will not permit me to take more than a glimpse at the his- 
tory of Andrew Jackson. The family from which he sprung, were 
at an early period emigrants from Scotland to Ireland. Andrew 
Jackson, the father of General Jackson, resided in Ulster county, 
in Ireland. Two sons were born unto him there, Hugh and Ro- 
bert. Though of the Presbyterian faith, the iron hand of England's 
despotism bore as heavy on him as on his Catholic countrymen; 
and in A. D. 1765, he sought for protection and peace in South 
Carolina. There, at the Waxhaw settlements, General Jackson 
was born, on the 15th of March, A. D. 1767. His father died 
about the time of his birth, leaving to him his name. His mother 
was left with nothing but a farm, to rear and educate him and his 
brothers. Though poor, she determined to give him a liberal edu- 
cation, and she therefore placed him, at a very tender age, at school. 
He was but eight }'ears old when the Revolutionary war broke 
out ; and, therefore, even in infancy, his mind became familiarized 
to war. At first he heard but of battles fought far off to the north, 
but soon the thunder-cloud rolled to the south, and deluged the 
plains of Carolina in blood. Over his native state, everywhere 
thundered the fierce Rawdon and the impetuous Tarleton. 

"Wherever they hoisted their standard black, 
Before them was murder, behind them was wrack." 

How deep and undying must have been the hatred which his 
soul acquired for tyranny in every form, at that early age, when 
the prayer of the old, and the young, hourly went up to Heaven 
for freeflow. How bitter must have been the enmity of his young 
heart to England. His father, and his uncles, driven by her per- 
secutions from Ireland, sought safet}' and refuge in America; but to 
their wild retreat, had now come the blood-hounds of England, to hunt 
him and his relatives to the death. Not a day passed by, but what 
he hpard of farm-houses destroyed, and npighbours murdered — and 
when he heard of the gallant exploits of Marion, and Sumpter, and 



308 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Davies, how his soul must have been on fire to join their bands, and 
meet, in arms, the oppressors of his country. Little did England 
dream, that her cruelty was then laying the foundation of a military 
education in the mind of a young boy, which was afterwards to 
show itself by the destruction of "the flower of her army," on the 
plains of New Orleans. 

Hugh Jackson, the eldest brother of Andrew, lost his life in the 
first battle of South Carolina, yet the widowed mother sent out her 
two remaining sons to fight for their country's freedom ; and in the 
attack made by Colonel Sumpter, on Hanging Rock, the boys be- 
haved with daring and courage, though Andrew was but thirteen 
years of age. 

Shortly after this, Andrew Jackson, with nine of his neighbours, 
repulsed a band of Tories, who came in the night to surprise and 
capture Captain Sands. Jackson heard them approaching, and 
alone, he sallied out to meet them. The report of his rifle, was the 
first intimation his sleeping comrades had of danger. Though but a 
lad, fear was a feeling unknown to him ; and he rushed into battle 
with a coolness and intrepidity, that would have done honour to a 
veteran whose hairs had grown grey in war. 

Robert and Andrew Jackson, during the progress of the war, 
were made prisoners at the house of their uncle, Mr. Crawford, 
and carried to Camden, where they were treated with great inhu- 
manity. In the refinement of cruelty, the brothers were separated. 
An incident occurred at the time of their capture, which is worthy 
of being related here. Whilst the British soldiers were plundering 
the house of Mr. Crawford, the commanding officer " ordered 
Andrew Jackson to clean his muddy boots." The young soldier 
refused, claiming to be treated with the respect due to a prisoner of 
war. Instead of admiring this manly spirit, in one so young, the 
cowardly ruffian struck at his head with his sword ; but, throwing 
tip his left hand, the intended victim received a gash upon it, the 
scar of which, he carried to his grave. Turning to Robert Jackson, 
the officer ordered him to perform the menial task, and receiving a 
like refusal, aimed a furious blow at his head also, and inflicted a 
wound, from which he never recovered. 

In this incident, and throughout the revolutionary war, we see 
that proud, unbending, and heroic spirit, in the boy, that in after 
years made the man — the day-star of his country's glory. In the 
death of this brother, all of his family, save himself, had perished 
through English oppression. He and his widowed mother, were 
now alone. A kind Providence watched over and protected him 
from every danger, and he lived, not only to avenge the wrongs 
heaped upon him, his kindred, and his countrymen, by the tyrants 
of England, but long enough to see that country which she wished 
to manacle, spring from the cradle to manhood, and rival, as she 



irvin's eulogy. 309 

now does, England in science, in commerce, in arts, and in arms. 
Aye, with that prophetic eye, with which the old hero was gifted, 
he could see far into the future ; and upon his vision, no doubt, 
there came the sight of the blood-stained flag of England, which 
has always claimed dominion on the sea, drooping before the "stars 
and stripes of his native land." 

Reflections like these, to some, may not seem appropriate in a 
funeral oration ; but love for England, formed no part of General 
Jackson's religious creed. 

Our independence was achieved, war had passed away, and peace 
smiled on a people, no longer destined to submit to foreign dominion. 
The young soldier had laid aside his arms, and now became the 
student at law. In A. D. 1786, he was admitted to the practice of 
law, and in A. D. 1788, he emigrated to Tennessee, and settled 
down in Nashville, where he soon acquired a lucrative practice. 
By General Washington, without solicitation, he was appointed 
attorney-general for that territory. For many years after he had 
fixed his residence in Tennessee, that country was the scene of In- 
dian barbarities, and Indian wars. The early settlers were sur- 
rounded by dangers, sufficient to have appalled any but " the bravest 
of the brave." Every man was, therefore, from necessity, a soldier. 
Jackson took part in many of their skirmishes and fights, never, 
however, taking the command. By his fearlessness, and intrepidity, 
he soon won the respect of his brave comrades. By the Indians, 
he was known by the names of " Sharp Knife," and " Pointed 
Arrow." 

A few years more pass around, and the poor, and the friendless 
young boy, has become one of the leading spirits of Tennessee ; — 
courage, honesty, and industry, have already won for him a fortune, 
and a name. The new territory is soon ready to be admitted into 
the Union as a state : and General Jackson, in A. D. 1796, is 
elected one of the delegates to the convention to frame the consti- 
tution. In the same year, he was elected to the House of Repre- 
sentatives, and in the following year, to the Senate of the United 
States. But a young man, and unsolicited on his part, we find his 
fellow-citizens heaping upon him the highest honours within their 
gift. Such was the veneration and esteem, which his virtues, and 
his talents, had already won for him. In A. D. 1799, sick of 
politics, and disgusted with the tyrannical character of some of the 
measures of the then administration, he resigned his seat in the 
Senate of the United States. During his senatorship, he was elected 
Major-general of the Tennessee militia, which rank he continued 
to hold until he took the same grade in the United States army, in 
A. D. 1814. 

Upon his retirement from the Senate of the United States, Ten- 
nessee was not disposed to allow him to lead a life of public inac- 



310 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

tion. The legislature of that state appointed him one of its supreme 
judges. The duties of this office were discharged by him with 
such impartiality and justice, that it was a matter of regret for all 
men, when declining; health forced him to resign. 

For several years, upon his farm, near Nashville, he lived a life 
of uninterrupted quiet and domestic happiness. He loved his wife 
with a romantic attachment, which none but few persons of his 
enthusiastic character are susceptible of. Such were the fascinating 
powers of his conversation, such the cheerfulness of his fireside, 
and the warmth of his heart, that though but a private citizen, his 
house at this time was the most public one in Tennessee. But this 
quiet and repose were soon destined to be disturbed. His peaceful 
countrv was once again to be desolated with war. When forbear- 
ance ceased to be a virtue, and peace could only be purchased by 
the most abject and cowardly submission to indignities, the Union 
declared war against her ancient foe. General Jackson, on fire to 
meet in manhood, those foes, who, in the days of his boyhood, 
with murder and rapine for their companions, had desolated his na- 
tive state, raised three thousand volunteers, and offered them to his 
country. They were accepted, and ordered to New Orleans. With 
his command, he marched to Natchez, and whilst there, received 
a peremptory order to disband his men. Instead of obeying the 
order, he marched his men back to Tennessee. His love of justice 
was so great, that rather than desert, by abandoning far from home, 
those patriotic men, he disobeyed the positive orders of his govern- 
ment. No power on earth could make him commit what he con- 
sidered to be wrong. The cowardly and treacherous conduct of 
Hull, had so inflamed his soul, that he burned to wipe out the dis- 
grace inflicted on our arms at Detroit. He wrote to the govern- 
ment, begging to be ordered north, that he might plant the Ameri- 
can eagle on the walls of Maiden ; but his prayer was disregarded, 
and his command dismissed. Once more he was left in retirement, 
but his soul was with his countrymen in the field. 

Not long, however, did he thus remain. The English had called 
into the field a new element of war. The Indians, armed by their 
allies, were murdering the defenceless citizens. Again, at the call 
of Tennessee, he took the field. He hurried with his command to 
the enemy's country, and such was the celerity of his movements, 
such the courage with which he inspired raw and inexperienced 
soldiers, that he could have ended the war with the Creeks in one 
month, had he been supplied with provisions for his army. By 
gross negligence, he was reduced to such straits that he knew not 
how to subsist from day to day his men. He penetrated into the 
enemy's country, and struck the first blow at Talladega. For want 
of provisions he was obliged to fall back, instead of following up 
his success. Hunger, famine, and mutiny were in his camp, and 



irvin's eulogy. 311 

the enemy without. No other man living, save himself, could have 
kept the army together. Whole regiments attempted to march off 
at a time ; but such was the terror he inspired when roused, that a 
thousand mutineers quailed before his single presence, and slunk 
back to duty. His men were constantly leaving him, as their terms 
expired, and fresh ones arriving. He had under his command no 
disciplined soldiery. As soon as he was able, through provisions 
and men, he again attacked the enemy at Emuckfaw. Whilst 
crossing the river Enotochopco, he was attacked by the Indians in 
ambush, but so excellent were the dispositions made by him against 
surprise, that the Indians were driven back with great loss. In 
those two actions, Jackson lost but twenty men, the Indians two 
hundred. The Creeks made their final stand at Horseshoe, on the 
Talapoosa river. Here Jackson attacked them on the 27th of 
March, A. D. 1814, carried their fortifications, and killed over 
eight hundred warriors. This blow put an end to the war. In 
five months this powerful and hostile tribe was reduced to submis- 
sion. The wonderful rapidity of his movements — his dauntless 
courage, that nothing could appal, — the battles won with raw, un- 
disciplined soldiers, — his keeping his army in the field, when almost 
every man was a mutineer, and his state wished to recall them, — 
turned upon him every eye, as to a soldier sent by Heaven to beat 
back the foe hovering along our coast, and threatening destruction 
to our country. He, who, in the commencement of the war, asked 
to lead his volunteers to Maiden, and plant the American eagle on 
the soil of Canada, and was refused, had, without a commission 
from the United States, fought his way, and gained for himself a 
reputation that none of her educated soldiers possessed ; and now, 
his country turned to him to take command of her Southern army, 
and save from the ravages of the enemy her Southern coast. He 
was ready at the call. Time will not permit me to relate the won- 
ders achieved by him at New Orleans. All men unite in the be- 
lief that none but him could have saved the city. The emergency 
required his superhuman courage, energy, and firmness of purpose, 
— and nobly were they displayed. The city, indeed, seem doomed 
inevitably to destruction ; for fast upon it came the very flower of 
the British army, the conquerors at Waterloo, — whilst within were 
traitors, sending intelligence to the advancing foe. He came and 
found the hearts of all men filled with gloom, despondency, and 
terror. His commanding presence inspired courage in the timid, 
and fear in the hearts of the treacherous. Courage and confidence 
were infused in his troops by precipitating them upon the foe ; and 
the enemy soon learned to respect both the commander and his 
citizen soldiery. The eighth of January arrived. The British 
troops, in column, advanced to storm his works, — but though they 
had stormed and carried Badajos and Ciudad Rodrigo, — though 



312 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

they had been conquerors on many a hard-fought field, over the 
choicest of Napoleon's troops, — and though, on that occasion, they 
behaved with a discipline and a courage that shed additional lustre 
on the British arms, yet they could not mount the cotton-bales at 
New Orleans; for, behind them lay the unerring riflemen of the 
West, commanded by one who never knew fear. The evening of 
that day saw three thousand of the British soldiers, with their gene- 
ral, dead upon the field. The war was over ; and on our side it 
had ended in a blaze of glory. The disgrace inflicted on our arms 
at Detroit, was wiped out at New Orleans. The object of the ene- 
my was to make a permanent conquest at New Orleans ; and Jack- 
son, by saving it, became the saviour of the western country. 

We have seen him as the victorious general ; we have now to 
contemplate him in another character, — as a citizen, submitting to 
the laws. Behold him arraigmed in New Orleans, — see the indis- 
nant crowd ready to drag his persecutor from the bench, — listen to 
the trembling and faltering voice of the craven judge, as he pro- 
nounces sentence, and to the cheering tones of Jackson, as he bids 
him to proceed, assuring him that the arm which saved the city 
from destruction, will protect him from the violence of a grateful 
and exasperated people. 

Again he retires to his home, when his country no longer has 
need for his services ; but again is he destined to be called, by his 
country, from retirement. The Seminole Indians are in arms, — 
he hastens to the rescue of his countrymen, and crossing into Spa- 
nish territory, captures the fortresses of Pensacola and Barrancas. 
Arraigned at the bar of public opinion, he is sustained by his coun- 
try and the world. 

Once more we find him at the Hermitage — this man who desires 
not the emoluments of office; but in a country like ours, one who 
has manifested the sterling virtues that adorned Jackson, can not 
remain in retirement. In them, the people feel confident they 
can repose any trust, sure that their confidence will never be abused. 
He was called again to the Senate, and afterwards, most reluctantly 
forced into the field as one of the candidates for the presidency. 
Though far outstripping his competitors before the people, yet was 
he not chosen president. But 1828 witnessed his triumph. I 
know that I am now treading; on contested around, but truth and 
justice demand, that the honour that is due to 'the genius of this 
most extraordinary man, should, on an occasion like this, be paid. 
I would not willingly offend any of those who entertain different 
sentiments from what I do, of the policy of his administration, yet 
still I must speak, though I do it feebly, of the genius he displayed, 
and the patriotism he exhibited, whilst president of the United 
States. That he was a man of great genius, is proven by the fact, 
that for more than sixteen years, he was the oracle of his party. 



irvin's eulogy. 313 

No man could maintain that position in either of the two great 
parties, without being a man of commanding intellect. Men bow 
not down to their inferiors in mind, and yet, long after Jackson had 
retired from political life, in every emergency, and in every trial, 
all eyes were turned to the Hermitage, and every ear listened with 
veneration and respect to the words of wisdom, of counsel, and of 
warning, addressed to his countrymen ; and at this hour, whilst the 
sod is fresh upon his grave, in the estimation of mankind, as a sage, 
he holds a place second to none, not even unto him of Monticello. 
As statesmen, there was a striking resemblance between Jefferson 
and Jackson. Both were distinguished by a devoted love for liberty 
— both had an unwavering and abiding confidence in the people — 
and both were possessed of a far-seeing sagacity, that enabled them 
to speak of the future, with almost the inspiration of prophecy. 
Both made a deep impression upon their institutions, and their age ; 
and whilst there may be a greater degree of polish about the 
writing of Jefferson, there is something in Jackson's style, so full 
of soul, and heart, and truth, so forcible and impressive, that he 
loses nothing by comparison. Great, wonderful, and unequalled, 
was the moral courage and firmness possessed by Jackson ; whilst 
ever ready to listen to counsel before coming to conclusions, when 
truth was once arrived at, as well might Gibraltar have been shaken 
to its foundations, as he removed from her basis. Though every 
friend that he possessed on earth had deserted him, yet with his 
bold heart, he would have stood alone, and fought against an erring 
world. He was, indeed, a man of iron will, and iron nerves. 
Great as is the fame he now enjoys, it is as nothing, to what it is 
destined to become. 

During his vigorous administration, our country obtained for her- 
self a respect abroad, never before enjoyed. Through him, the 
proclamation was made unto the world, that whilst America would 
demand nothing but what was right, she would submit to nothing 
that was wrong. 

He ever regarded, with holy veneration, the Union of these states ; 
and when, during his administration, it was threatened, he was at 
once in arms, and when he proclaimed, " The Union must, and 
shall be preserved," all men knew it would be done. If there is a 
single man amongst this vast audience, who doubts the pure motives 
by which, throughout life, this great man was governed, to him I 
say, listen to those words of truth, of beauty, and eloquence, 
which flowed from him when the reiterated assaults of his enemies 
compelled him to speak: 

" In vain do I bear upon my person, enduring memorials of that 

contest in which American liberty was purchased; in vain have I 

since perilled property, fame, and life, in defence of the rights 

and privileges so dearly bought, * * * if any serious doubts 

27 



314- MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

can be entertained, as to the purity of my purposes and motives. 
* * * In the history of conquerors and usurpers, never, in the 
fire of youth, nor in the vigour of manhood, could I find an attrac- 
tion to lure me from the path of duty ; and now, I shall scarcely 
find an inducement to commence their career of ambition, when 
gray hairs, and a decaying frame, instead of inviting to toil and 
battle, call me to the "contemplation of other worlds, where con- 
querors cease to be honoured, and usurpers expiate their crimes. 
The only ambition I can feel, is to acquit myself to Him to whom 
I must soon render an account of my stewardship, to serve my 
fellow-men, and live respected and honoured in the history of my 
country. No : the ambition which leads me on, is an anxious 
desire, and a fixed determination, to return to the people, unimpaired, 
the sacred trust they have confided to my charge : * * * to 
persuade my countrymen, so far as I may, that it is not in a splendid 
government, supported by powerful monopolies, and aristocratical 
establishments, that they will find happiness, or their liberties pro- 
tection ; but in a plain system, void of pomp — dispensing its bless- 
ings, like the dews of Heaven, unseen and unfelt, save in the 
freshness and beauty they contribute to produce. It is such a go- 
vernment that the genius of our people requires — such an one only, 
under which our states may remain, for ages to come, united, 
prosperous, and free. If the Almighty Being, who has hitherto 
sustained and protected me, will vouchsafe to make my feeble 
powers instrumental to such a result, I shall anticipate, with plea- 
sure, the place to be assigned to me in the history of my country, 
and die, contented with the belief, that I have contributed, in some 
small degree, to increase the value, and prolong the duration, of 
American liberty." 

When he retired from the presidential chair, and sought again 
that home he so much loved, it was with a reputation as a states- 
man, equal, if not superior to that he enjoyed as a warrior. 

The evening of his life is destined to be calm and beautiful. Up 
to this period, it had been spent, from childhood, in the midst of 
perils, storms, and tempests ; and now, for the first time, he felt the 
sweet and gentle influences of peace. Though always governed by 
a high degree of religious feeling, his life had been such, whilst 
surrounded by enemies, that he could not render that devotion to 
his God, which marked and characterized the latter years of his 
life. But now, these influences were no longer at work, and this 
man of iron laid himself down at the foot of the cross. Yes, my 
fellow-citizens, this stern and heroic warrior — this firm and unbend- 
ing statesman, became a meek and lowly follower of Jesus. Every 
Sabbath day saw that aged man kneeling before the altar of God, 
and in his prayers he forgot not his country, but invoked the bless- 
ings of Heaven upon it. Years roll around, and though the hand 



315 

of disease is upon him — though pain and suffering are ever present, 
and death constantly hovering around, his soul and intellect are as 
firm as in the vigour of manhood, whilst his devotion to his God, 
and his love for his country, remain unchanged. 

His career is fast hastening to a close. Great and good as he is, 
yet he too must die. Soon, his children shall no longer hear his 
voice of kindness and affection — the poor and the afflicted shall miss 
his tones of consolation ; and deeds of charity and his country, ah ! 
where shall she look, to find another like unto him. The last day 
he is to spend on earth, is at hand. He feels upon him the hand of 
death, and prays " that his enemies may find peace, and that the 
liberties of his country may endure for ever." 

In this hour, he could not witness the grief of those he loved, 
and when the sobs of his children broke upon his ear, " Do not 
weep," said he, " my sufferings are less than those of Christ upon 
the cross." His household were all assembled, and around him 
were gathered children and servants, who would have died for him, 
could they have thereby assuaged his pain. He spoke to them of 
religion in words of eloquence, and implored them to put their 
trust in God, and then bade them farewell : — " Dear children, ser- 
vants, and friends," said he, "I trust to meet you all in Heaven, 
both white and black, all, both white and black." Thus died the 
greatest man of his age. 

"The veteran died as a Christian dies, 

With hope in his Saviour God, 
And now, on that brave old heart there lies 

The heavy and fresh green sod ; 
But his deeds will tell, when his crumbling dust, 
From his frame shall fall, and his falchion rust." 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT CHARLOTTE, TENN., JULY 17, 1845, 



BY 



J. G. HARRIS, Esq. 



Our country mourns the loss of an illustrious benefactor. 

Andrew Jackson departed this life at the Hermitage, on Sunday, 
the 8th of June, ultimo, at six o'clock in the afternoon, having ad- 
vanced to the age of seventy-eight years. 

The soldier, the patriot, the statesman, the sage, rests from the 
cares and anxieties of an eventful career, and with the Christian's 
full hope, confidently awaits the last trump which shall summon his 
spirit to realms of immortality. 

He was ready to die. He had lived a kind neighbour, a true 
friend, an honest man. 

He had served his country faithfully — having filled the measure 
of its glory to the brim — and his unbounded solicitude for its per- 
manent and enduring welfare was, up to the last hour of his life, 
ardent, unabated. 

He had been spared, by a merciful Providence, to enjoy more 
than one man's share of years ; and throughout the long and linger- 
ing illness which preceded his closing scene, he often announced 
his entire readiness to " march" hence whenever "the word" should 
be given from on High ; or, as he sometimes said, " at the first tap 
of the drum." 

He is gone. He sleeps with his fathers. His name is registered 
high among the highest, upon the scroll of fame. 

You all know something, much, of his character — many of you 
more than I can tell. Some of you have been his compatriots in 
arms — others have enjoyed his acquaintance, his friendship — the 
aged are well informed of his history, and the youth have doubt- 
heard their fathers and mothers describe his deeds of great- 
ness. Tennesseeans all knew him, and his renown is the highest 
prirlo of their state. The American people knew him, and with- 

(316) 



EULOGY. 317 

out his solicitation they repeatedly heaped upon him their highest 
honours, as the meed of their admiration of his character, their 
gratitude for his eminent public services. 

Born in South Carolina, 1767, he entered the Revolutionary war 
at the age of fourteen, in which he received an honourable wound. 
The study of the law he commenced in 1784, and was admitted to 
the bar as a practitioner in 1786. At the age of twenty-one he 
emigrated to this section of the country, which was then the south- 
western territory of the Union, where he was appointed the attor- 
ney of the government. Educated in the schools of the Revolu- 
tionary period, he had yet much to acquire by personal application, 
nor did he fail in the acquisition. At an early day his superior 
qualifications for the public service were recognised by the bold 
and enterprising spirits of the sparsely settled territory to which he 
had come, and when, in 1795, it became necessary to form a con- 
stitution for the new state of Tennessee, he was chosen a member 
of the convention assembled for that purpose. He so distinguished 
himself in that assembly, as giving tone to a constitution which has 
been the admiration of eminent statesmen, that he was made the 
first representative in Congress under it. At the expiration of 
his term, being thirty years of age, he was elected to the United 
States Senate, which place he resigned after the second year of its 
occupancy, accepting an invitation to preside over the highest court 
of this state. 

Thus, at the age of thirty-three years, had he risen gradually, 
from a lawyer's clerkship, to the supreme bench, from the ranks 
of the Revolution to the American Senate. 

It was natural, therefore, that at the opening of the British and 
Indian wars, public attention should turn to him as the champion 
of our country's rights in the West. Having been the choice of 
Tennessee as a general of the militia twelve years before, he ex- 
perienced little or no difficulty in raising twenty-five hundred vo- 
lunteers for the service, from amongst the brave and patriotic spirits 
of this region, to provide for whose comfort he advanced five thou- 
sand dollars from his own purse, and at whose head he repaired to 
the Creek nation in the year following, terminating, in a few 
months, the fearful border difficulties which existed at the time. 

The government beheld him as the master-spirit of the South- 
west, and in 1814, conferred on him the appointment cf brigadier- 
general in the United States army. With the Creeks, whom he 
had already subdued, he now established an advantageous treaty, 
and then marched to Pensacola to chastise the Spanish authorities 
for their treacherous conduct in harbouring and protecting our ene- 
my, the British and Indians. Pensacola was reduced — Fort Bar- 
rancas surrendered — and the enemy dispersed. 

Apprised that the British were contemplating an attack upon 

07 * 



318 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

JNew Orleans, as a "key" to the great West, he marched along the 
gulf towards that city, arresting their advance by a daring night at- 
tack, December 23d, again repulsing them on the 28th, and again 
on the 1st of January, 1815. 

But the great and glorious victory of three thousand seven 
hundred western riflemen over nine thousand of Wellington's most 
efficient soldiers, with a loss of only thirteen to the former, and about 
three thousand to the latter, was reserved for the glorious eighth. 
This brilliant achievement, conclusive evidence to the crown of 
the mother-country that Americans were unconquerable on their 
own soil, defending and securing the vast possessions of Louisiana 
as purchased under Mr. Jefferson, which had excited the envy and 
aroused the jealousy of the world, is so sublime in its character and 
results, that it cannot fail to embellish the brightest pages in our 
country's history. 

Fond of retirement, and unambitious of public honours, he now 
desired, on the restoration of peace, to leave the service and return 
to his farm — but the president insisted in the most persuasive terms 
that he should remain, as his military services at the South might 
yet be required by the government. He consented, and in 1817, 
marched against the Seminoles in Florida, summarily executing two 
incendiaries who were secretly encouraging the Indians in their 
aggressions, again entering Pensacola, and again taking Fort Bar- 
rancas, to which the Spanish governor had fled. 

Four years afterwards, when Florida was ceded to the United 
States, he was appointed governor of that territory ; and in the 
year following, was nominated by his own Tennessee for the presi- 
dency of the United States. 

In the presidential election of 1824, he received a greater num- 
ber of votes than any other candidate — and yet another was 
chosen by the lower house of Congress, regardless of the popular 
preference. 

The pride of Tennessee was aroused at this injustice. From the 
formation of her constitution, he had been one of her most 
cherished jewels. She had trusted him often and always, and he 
had never betrayed her. She had named him for the chief magis-. 
tracy — he had a plurality of votes — and yet one who had received 
many less was preferred by those on whom devolved the constitu- 
tional alternative in the absence of a choice by the people. With a 
spirit worthy of a sovereign state, she again uttered her unabated 
confidence in him, and manifested her displeasure at the treatment 
he had received by electing him in the same year, and for a second 
time, to the United States Senate, there to speak as with her voice, 
there to wield her destiny. 

In these wrongs which he had experienced his countrymen par- 
ticipated, and before the close of the session, he was renominated 



Harris's eulogy. 319 

for the first office in their gift by general acclamation. He retired 
for a second time from the United States Senate — the purest and 
most exalted deliberative body of the kind on earth — to his farm 
upon the Cumberland, and at the polls of 1828, the thwarted will 
of the people recovered its full power by his triumphant election 
to the proudest seat that was ever occupied by man. 

So prosperous was the country during his constitutional term of 
office, so sound his policy, so wise his administration, that he was 
elected a second time by an overwhelming majority — thus endowed 
with all the popular honours awarded to Washington, Jefferson, 
Madison, Monroe, illustrious statesmen who had preceded him. 

With a popularity, surpassed only by that which was carried to 
Mount Vernon by the Father of his country, he returned to the 
Hermitage, upon the close of his last term, at the age of three 
score and ten — ripe with honours, laden with the blessings of his 
countrymen. 

His last eight years, though passed in retirement, are, perhaps, 
more interesting in many respects than those which preceded them 
— but in almost every incident of his life since the maturity of his 
manhood, we behold a text wherefrom may be illustrated the most 
exemplary specimen of human character. 

The mighty power of his opinions upon important public ques- 
tions as exhibited in our documentary history, and in the evening 
of life, while quietly reposing at the Hermitage far away from the 
seat of our government, is the crowning evidence of his goodness 
and greatness. His late letters and earlier state papers, which in 
years past and in years to come have had and will continue to have 
controlling influences over our policy and institutions, are of a 
theme to which the deliberative historian alone can do full justice. 
They will stand forth as landmarks to the paths of honour and 
safety, equal, if not superior in their prominence, to those of Jef- 
ferson. They Mill be consulted as the oracles of political faith ; 
and for ages and ages after the hand that traced them shall have 
crumbled to its native dust, their vigour and freshness will be un- 
impaired. 

Andrew Jackson never occupied a doubtful position upon any 
question. A decided and substantive character, his friends and his 
enemies always knew where to find him. If his countrymen sought 
his opinion, they had it in plain terms, few words. It was received 
as that of a true patriot having had great experience, one whom 
they had known long and watched closely, and one whom they 
regarded as being more like " the sober second thought, never 
wrong, and always efficient," than any man living. If they were 
beclouded with doubt, if the turmoil of party collisions aroused 
their apprehensions for the safety of the republic, his abiding con- 
fidence in the virtue and intelligence of his countrymen was re- 



320 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

ceived as "the inspiration of his instinctive wisdom," which has 
been likened to " prophecy." 

The weather-beaten mariner at sea, when his bark, under the 
lash of the tempest lor many days, has been driven from her true 
course and is in imminent danger of being wrecked upon a danger- 
ours coast, paces the deck in an anguish approaching to despair, 
now looking away in one direction and then in another, hoping to 
discern some certain indication that the dense black clouds, which 
have so long overhung him, will soon break away and afford him 
an opportunity to observe the sun by which to determine his exact 
position on the broad ocean. And when the storm subsides, and the 
god of day comes peering through the dissipating clouds, he raises 
his quadrant to his eye, makes his observation, calculates his course 
and distance, and with a cheerful smile playing upon every linea- 
ment of his face, puts his ship on a new tack — that from which she 
had departed — in the nearest possible direction of the destined 
haven. 

Andrew Jackson was to the American people as the sun to the 
mariner. 

When our old ship of state was lashed by the surging billows of 
popular opinion dangerously excited — when the political storm 
threatened to strand her upon the sterile beach of despotism — when 
the blindness of partisan zeal had so far affected the public mind 
as to obscure the light of reason, when we had lost our reckoning, 
and the national craft was in a condition which made the wisest of 
all parties shudder for the result — where did we turn for advice, for 
counsel ? 

Go to the correspondence of the deceased veteran, and you will 
see that from one extreme of our country to the other — from the 
lakes to the gulf, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific — when the 
storm was over, and reason had resumed her enlightened empire, 
the American people, like the anxious mariner, consulted their sun 
— the sun of their political firmament — and like him brought back 
their ship to the true tack which would bear them to the harbour 
of safety. 

His integrity was inflexible ; his patriotism undisputed. He 
who had never deceived them was reliable. He who had always 
foreseen and averted public dangers when in public life, could see 
them still in his retirement. 

It is not wonderful that such a man should have had such an in- 
fluence with such a people. Gradually rising from the humbler 
walks of life to the most exalted stations on earth, he knew the 
wants, feelings, and sympathies of all classes, all conditions; and 
his countrymen were to him as the equal members of the same 
great family associated for their common benefit. Hence, his in- 
fluence upon public opinion was necessarily great ; and if he used 



Harris's eulogy. 321 

it in accordance with his solid judgment, who shall have the teme- 
rity to say he was a dictator 1 In the heat of partisan excitement 
the charge has been often preferred, but thanks to the just and dis- 
criminating spirit of our fellow-citizens, it has been as often refuted 
to the satisfaction of the world. 

The dictator holds to principles adverse to those of his people, 
and enforces obedience. Jackson's principles were those which 
the popular interests reflected, and with which his own interests, 
as a citizen, were identified in every respect. Instead of com- 
pelling the masses of the people to coincide with him, he foresaw 
their inclination, and coincided with them as their champion. 

Is there a man in your precinct whose life is so spotless that he 
deservedly possesses a large share of influence with his neighbours'? 
Is he to be denounced as a dictator? Is his opinion concerning 
matters which involve the welfare of the neighbourhood eagerly 
sought, and when obtained to be pronounced dictation 1 If in 
doubt concerning a portion of the Sacred Scriptures you obtain the 
explanation of a celebrated divine, in whom you have full confi- 
dence, shall it be said that he is your dictator ? God forbid that the 
invaluable opinions of great and good men, either in politics or re- 
ligion, should be rejected by a free and Christian people as dictation. 

No man was ever further from a desire to control the volitions 
of his countrymen against their will — no one was ever less obnox- 
ious to the charge of dictation. It was but a few days before his 
death that a citizen of this state called upon him for his signature 
to a petition for an office, when he replied : " No, no, I cannot do 
it, for they will say I am dictating to the president." 

Within the last few years his opinions on all great questions, di- 
viding public sentiment, have been sought with avidity. When 
he spoke by letter his voice was heard to the remotest parts of the 
republic, and not unfrequently throughout the civilized world. 
Nor can the fact be disguised that his letters on the annexation of 
Texas to our territory constituted the great and powerful lever by 
which that glorious measure was launched upon the tide of success. 
They excited the jealousy of England, if not the envy of the en- 
tire Holy Alliance ; but they revived and strengthened the waning 
hopes of Texas, and made glad the hearts of its people. 

A distinguished Texan says, that at a moment when his country 
had almost despaired of establishing a reunion, when they were 
going deeper and deeper into debt to maintain the necessary de- 
fences of their frontier, and were nearly driven to entertain propo- 
sitions for protective alliances with other nations, General Jackson 
was writing to his own countrymen that it was "the golden mo- 
ment" for annexation, and exhorting his friends in Texas to take 
courage, for the time would come, and that speedily, when the 



322 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

American people would demand annexation at the hands of their 
government. 

The time came. He lived to hear the demand which he had 
previously predicted. The work is done — and although the vene- 
rable old patriot did not last until its consummation, yet, thanks to 
an indulgent Providence, he was spared long enough to see the end 
with certainty, and to exclaim, as he did in one of his last letters — 

" ALL IS SAFE !" 

Yes — all is safe. The Congress of Texas met on the 16th ulti- 
mo, and unanimously accepted the definitive proposition which had 
been made by this government — and, ere this, the convention of 
delegates, to assemble on the 4th instant, fresh from the people, 
have doubtless sealed their reunion to our national family, by the 
adoption of a constitution as a free and independent state of this 
great confederacy. Welcome — thrice welcome to our new-born 
sister. 

Of unerring sagacity, steady mind, cool deliberation, solid judg- 
ment, strength of understanding, and infinite nerve, with the most 
unwearying patience and perseverance, he accomplished all things 
which he earnestry attempted. It is said that the Emperor Joseph 
on his death-bed exclaimed, in the anguish of his spirit, that his 
epitaph should be : " Here lies Joseph, who was unsuccessful in all 
his undertakings." How true to the letter would be the epitaph of 
the departed hero, were it to read : " Here lies Jackson, who was 
successful in all his undertakings." 

His entire life is a striking example of the rich rewards which 
sooner or later unfailingly crown patriotic deeds. 

When the French government had too long delayed the payment 
of a just debt due to this country, and when called upon for the 
amount, had evinced a disposition to treat us rather cavalierly, Pre- 
sident Jackson insisted upon promptness, giving notice that in the 
event of longer delay, we would be justifiable in the issuance of 
letters of marque and reprisal. The king was disposed to construe 
this into an insult, and it was intimated that an apology would be 
indispensable. To this the old hero replied with characteristic em- 
phasis : " The honour of my country shall never be stained by an 
apology from me for the statement of truth and the -performance 
of duty.* 3 The French minister at Washington had asked and re- 
ceived his passports — a war seemed to be near at hand, if not already 
on the tapis — when all at once the money was paid to the utter- 
most farthing, diplomatic courtesies restored, and peaceable rela- 
tions re-established. 

INine years have elapsed, and what do we behold? The same 
grand monarch who had learned that his crown with all its jewels 
could not have purchased an apology from Andrew Jackson, be- 
comes such an admirer of the veteran's character that he despatches 



Harris's eulogy. 323 

a favourite Parisian artist across the Atlantic to hasten to the Her- 
mitage, and to procure, if possible, a likeness of him from life, as 
the centre of a circle of portraits of distinguished Americans, to 
ornament the royal chambers of the Louvre, St. Cloud, or Versailles. 

This portrait was completed a week before the general's death. 
It was the last and one of the very best likenesses ever taken of him. 

Nor comes this tribute from the king alone. Elevated by the 
voice of his people, and not exclusively by divine grace, he knows 
the admiration of Jackson's character which prevails amongst 
Frenchmen from Havre to Marseilles, and it becomes the better 
part of good policy for him to anticipate their wishes. It is a tri- 
bute paid by millions of the admiring countrymen of La Fayette. 

So was the reward of his gallant and self-sacrificing conduct at 
New Orleans certain and ample. Not only for his services in the 
field, but for the magnanimity with which he protected the court 
and paid the fine which it imposed upon him for proclaiming mar- 
tial law within the limits of his own camp! The timorous judge, 
surrounded by hosts of patriotic freemen who had followed their 
chief to the spot, trembled in his seat when contemplating the pro- 
bable consequences of such a decision as he had resolved upon. 
Discovering this, the general rose, stretched forth his hand, and 
said : " Proceed, sir ; the arm which has saved the city shall pro- 
tect you in the discharge of what you conceive to be your duty." 
The fine of one thousand dollars was imposed, when a check for 
the amount was tendered him by the ladies. " No (said he), this 
is my privilege — distribute the collections which the ladies have 
made among the widows and orphans of those who have fallen in 
tflfc defence of the city — I will pay the fine myself." The welkin 
fang with the hearty shouts of an enthusiastic populace, who formed 
a triumphal seat of their heads and hands, bore him through the 
city, and listened to his grateful acknowledgment of their devotion 
from the balcony of his residence. 

But a richer reward than this awaited him. In process of time 
the propriety of his proclamation of martial law being questioned 
by some of his countrymen, a motion was made in Congress to ap- 
prove the act by refunding the fine with interest. During the de- 
lay occasioned by a vigorous opposition, the state of Louisiana 
passpd an act pledging itself to refund it in the event that the mo- 
tion failed in Congress. But it did not fail. That which had been 
so magnanimously paid by him, was with corresponding magna- 
nimity refunded by a special law of his country — and I have often 
heard him say that he accepted it, not so much for the sake of the 
amount as that the resolutions of Congress entirely annihilating 
every vestige of imputation upon his conduct at New Orleans, 
might be fulfilled to all intents and purposes. 

His long, useful, and eventful life is full of examples like these. 



324- MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

He loved truth and justice for their own sake, their intrinsic ex 
cellence, their wholesome influences. In all the relations of life 
he tenderly cherished them as the pure crystal dew-drops of the 
morning, which, trembling on the open leaf, receive and impart 
their diamond brilliancy under the first rays of the rising sun. 
Truth was the talisman of his successful career, and he promoted it 
with all the ardour of his nature as the leaven of good society, the 
soul of honour. The syllables of his lips were the voice of his 
heart, and his hands their faithful executive. Even and exact jus- 
tice was the touch-stone with which he tried all public measures, 
and the tenacity with which he adhered to conclusions thus found 
were fixed as fate. These were his deities in practical life — and 
his eye was steadfastly fixed on their advancement, careless, appa- 
rently, whether he accompanied their car or was crushed beneath 
its wheels. In this, neither the threat of a foreign monarch, nor a 
domestic monster of associated wealth, could intimidate him. True 
to every duty, even as the needle to the pole, he was always vic- 
torious, even when almost everybody thought he would be defeated. 

To a Tennessee audience I need not sa} T he was brave, or that he 
never knew the sensation of fear when invited to a part in a just 
cause. Thus engaged, all his energies united upon the end to be 
accomplished. Morally, as well as physically brave, he never 
hesitated in the expression of an honest opinion on public affairs, 
even though it involved personal considerations which rendered it 
a hazardous undertaking. 

In his vocabulary, the words " temporize" and "expediency," 
were not to be found. No noncommittal, no neutral, no trimmuj, 
he inquired not for the popular but the right side. The plume of 
his helmet always nodded in the front rank of his friends, whom he 
never deserted without having most positive proof of misconduct 
or defection. Their defeat was his defeat — his triumph, their 
triumph. He was never an obstruction in their path, he never 
triumphed over them. He shared their troubles, they participated 
in his joys. As a characteristic it was the admiration of all, with- 
out sectarian or partisan distinction — for everybody knew that he 
respected a bold and dignified opponent more than a timid and 
sycophantic coadjutor. 

Although it may have appeared to the superficial observer of his 
career, that he was subject to the undue excitement of passion, of 
an irritable disposition, an irascible temperament, yet nothing can 
be more erroneous, for his feelings were in constant and entire sub- 
jugation to his mind, with the considerate reservation, that while 
there are times for forbearance, and times for resentment, the cause 
of justice always suffers from delay. 

He never longed for the pomp and blandishment of power — he 
was neither seduced by the one, nor dazzled by the other. While 



Harris's eulogy. 325 

he was not importunate for office, he accepted it cheerfully, with a 
deep and lively sense of its weighty responsibilities, and an iron 
will to discharge its duties with exemplary fidelity. He sought no 
personal difficulties, nor did he decline them when they involved 
high considerations of true honour. Indeed, one of his favourite 
maxims was: "Neither seek nor decline." 

In his chief magisterial capacity, his eye was steady and single 
to the perpetuity of the Union, as the greatest of all public con- 
siderations, believing that the manifold blessings of which our in- 
stitutions are capable, must necessarily flow forth to the greatest 
number. However keen, therefore, might have been his sympathy 
with the citizens of any one state, who, under known grievances, 
manifested a spirit of resistance which, in his judgment, had a 
tendency to weaken the bonds, he was at no loss to discriminate 
between private feelings and public duty, and stood forth a chosen 
representative of the united sovereignty of the whole, declaring 
that " The Union must be preserved." Averse to monopolies, 
partial laws, and special privileges, he conducted his administration 
in accordance with his favourite maxim : " The blessings of go- 
vernment should be dispensed like the dews of Heaven, unseen 
and unfelt, save in the freshness and beauty they contribute to 
produce." 

It has been said by an eminent English historian, that Napoleon 
was the most extraordinary captain of his time — that though the con- 
tests of Alexander were more extensive, the character of Csesar more 
accomplished, the military genius of Napoleon is shared by Han- 
nibal alone. It may be so — and yet it appears in the world's 
history, that it was a portion of the same regularly marshalled, 
well ordered, amply provided, and highly civilized soldiery, which 
conquered Napoleon at Waterloo, that were most signally overcome 
at New Orleans by an American force which they outnumbered 
three to one, acting under the peculiar auspices of the military 
genius of Jackson. 

Nevertheless, it has been truly said : "His heart was full of the 
gentlest affections." His home — the spot which he had chosen in 
his youth as the most delightful to be found upon the then forest- 
banks of the Cumberland — his family, his pursuits of agriculture, 
were the pride of his life. The improvement of his stock, his soils, 
and especially the beautiful grounds by which his dwelling is sur- 
rounded, was his favourite vocation — while many of the intervals of 
leisure were devoted to encouraging and often participating in the 
innocent sports of his little grandchildren. A3' — all the domestic 
virtues so precious to every household as the jewelry of the fireside, 
were possessed, practised, and fostered, by the champion of a nation's 
rights, who had so often led his countrymen to battle and victory. 

His hospitality was unbounded. Six days in the week his house 
28 



■J26 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

was open, free to all — and those who remained there over night, 
were met upon rising with the maxim : " He who uses a bed in my 
aouse must also use a plate before he leaves in the morning." In- 
dustry, enterprise, and frugality, had given him enough of the earth's 
comforts, and he used them with liberality. This inestimable quality 
of his heart was uniformly acknowledged by the representatives of 
foreign powers, as he imparted it to the national character abroad. 
When the Mexican tyrant, overcome by Texans at San Jacinto, fled 
to his roof for succour, he was received as though he had been an 
intimate friend, and with all the respect due to his station at home. 
Little as he loved his enemies, he held their honour to be as sacred 
as his own — nor did a fellow-man in distress ever seek his protection 
in vain. 

He was kind and generous to the poor and the afflicted. One of 
his old neighbours told me the other day that he had seen General 
Jackson and his wife, in the prime of their lives, load their little 
family vehicle with provisions and ride off six or eight miles of an 
afternoon, in the pursuit of a family which they had heard was 
sick and needy, and after finding and preparing refreshments for 
the invalids with their own hands, spend a sleepless night at their 
couch, administering to their wants with the tenderness and solici- 
tude of parents. Nor was this an isolated case — it was their cus- 
tom. Their charity and benevolence were proverbial. 

He had come to the West in his youth, not as a reckless wanderer 
" studious of change and fond of novelty," but to join the patriarchal 
band of pioneers — the Robertsons, Weakleys, Shelbys, Donelsons, 
and others — who had already settled near the spot where Nashville 
now stands — men of intelligence, learning, and patriotism, who had 
been eminently successful in the adoption of a peaceful policy with 
the Indians, and had secured to their little encampment safety and 
prosperity. He came to co-operate with them, and his decided, 
firm, and resolute character, won their respect and esteem. His 
knowledge of law became useful, and he soon advanced to a full 
possession of their implicit confidence, not only as a man of words 
but of deeds. 

His unwearied efforts to open these new homes in the West for 
those who came after him, were signal and efficient. In military, 
as well as civil life, he was both loved and feared by the savage 
tribes which at an early day inhabited these regions, never coercing 
them until persuasion and negotiation had failed ; and his policy 
towards them, while invested with the powers of the chief magis- 
tracy, gathering together their scattered remnants, and locating 
them as one people upon a tract suited to their habits and pursuits 
beyond the Mississippi, where they now enjoy peace and plenty, 
was of the most humane character and tendency. 

His constant aim was to enlarge the area of Christianity and 



Harris's eulogy. 327 

civilization, to diffuse the blessings of our liberties and laws through- 
jut the western wilderness. During his time, much was accom- 
plished — nor shall we stop here. 

Westward we have pressed — westward still is our destiny. 

The keen and piercing eye of the sagacious patriot did not fail 
to discover through the dim vista of the future, that nothing short 
of the Pacific shore could stop our progress; and he often predicted 
that the influence of our institutions, in its western march, would 
yet agonize the eastern portions of the old world, arouse from their 
immemorial lethargy the worshippers of men and idols, and fire 
their hearts with the enthusiasm of civil and religious liberty. 

He was ever anxious that the government should encourage this 
western movement, for he knew it to be the inclination of this great 
and growing people. He knew that the spirit which impelled him 
in his youth to cross the Cumberland Ridge, was the same laudable 
spirit which is now impelling thousands of freemen to cross the 
Rocky Mountains in the same direction ; and the last letter from 
his own hand was written forty-eight hours before his death to his 
friend, the president of the United States, praying him to be firm, 
resolute, and determined, in the maintenance of our unquestionable 
title to the Oregon, as asserted in his inaugural message. " Let our 
rights in the north-west be maintained" (said he, in one of his 
latest conversations), " and if war must be the consequence, let it 
come, there will be patriots enough in the land to repel foreign 
aggression, come whence it may." 

Born in the East, he sleeps in the West — the defender of the 
South, the champion of the North — his name and fame are the 
common heritage of his country. But if there be one portion from 
which more honour is due to his memory than another, it is the 
portion inhabiting these western valleys, with whom he was more 
particularly identified in sympathy, feeling, and in all the relations 
of private life ; and who, to no inconsiderable extent, bear the im- 
press of his exalted character. 

His last will and testament being of record in the courts, there 
can be no impropriety in referring to so much of it as illustrates 
his patriotism, affection, and chivalry. 

After bestowing his entire estate upon his adopted son and 
namesake, with the exception of a few presents thereinafter to be 
named, he proceeds — I give the exact language of the instrument, 
as written in his own plain and steady hand : — 

" I bequeath to my well-beloved nephew, Andrew J. Donelson, 
&c, the elegant sword presented to me by the state of Tennessee, 
with this injunction : that he fail not to use it when necessary, in 
the support and protection of our glorious Union, and the protec- 
tion of the constitutional rights of our beloved country, should 
they ever be assailed by foreign enemies or domestic traitors. 



328 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

* * # This bequest is made as a memento of my high regard, 
affection, and esteem, for him as a high-minded, honest, and hon- 
ourable man. 

"To my grand-nephew, Andrew Jackson Coffee, I bequeath the 
elegant sword presented to me by the Rifle Company at New 
Orleans, commanded by Captain Beal, as a memento of my regard, 
and to bring to his recollection the gallant services of his deceased 
father, General John Coffee, in the late Indian and British war, 
under my command, and his gallant conduct in the defence of New 
Orleans in 1814 and 1815, with this injunction: that he wield it 
in protection of the rights secured to the American citizen under 
our glorious constitution, against all invaders, whether foreign 
foes or intestine traitors. 

"I bequeath to my beloved grandson, Andrew Jackson — son of 
Andrew Jackson, junior, and Sarah, his wife — the sword pre- 
sented to me by the citizens of Philadelphia, with this injunction : 
that he will always use it in defence of the constitution and our 
glorious Union, and for the perpetuation of our republican system, 
remembering the motto — ' Draw me not without occasion, sheathe 

ME NOT WITHOUT HONOUR.' 

" The pistols of General La Fayette, presented by him to Gene- 
ral George Washington, and by Colonel William Robertson pre- 
sented to me, I bequeath to George Washington La Fayette, as a 
memento of the illustrious personages through whose hands they 
have passed, his father, and the father of his country. 

" The gold box presented to me by the corporation of the city 
of New York — the large silver vase presented to me by the ladies 
of Charleston, South Carolina, my native state — with the large 
picture representing the unfurling of the American banner, pre- 
sented to me by the citizens of South Carolina, when it was re- 
fused to be accepted by the United States Senate — I leave in trust 
to my son, A. Jackson, jr., with directions that should our happy 
country not be blest with peace — an event not, always to be expect- 
ed — he will, at the close of the war or end of the confict, present 
each of said articles of inestimable value to that patriot residing 
in the city or state from which they were severally presented, who 
shall be adjudged by his countrymen or the ladies to have been 
the most, valiant in defence of his country and his country's rights. 

"The pocket spy-glass, which was used by General Washington 
during the Revolutionary war, and presented to me by Mr. Curtis, 
having been burned with my dwelling-house, the Hermitage, with 
many other invaluable relics, I can make no disposition of them. 

"As a memento of my high regard for General Robert Arm- 
strong, as a gentleman, patriot, and soldier, as well as for his meri- 
torious military services under my command during the late British 
and Indian wars, and remembering the gallant bearing of him and 



Harris's eulogy. 329 

his gallant little band at Enotochopco creek, when falling, despe- 
rately wounded, he called out : « My brave fellows, some may fall, 
but save the cannon' — as a memento of all these things, I give and 
bequeath to him my case of pistols and sword worn by me through- 
out my military career, icell satisfied that in his hands they will 
never be disgraced, that they will never be used or drawn without 
occasion, nor sheathed bvt with honour.'''' 

How beautiful the injunctions which accompany the bequests of 
the dying patriot ! He had preserved his own sword pure and un- 
sullied ; he had guarded the stainless emblems of a nation's grati- 
tude as a priceless treasure ; and when he was approached by the 
great earthly conqueror of all mankind, he gracefully surrendered 
them into chosen hands, with a prayer and a command that they 
should never be dishonoured. 

Nor was he thoughtless of her who had watched his bedside for 
years. In recognising and confirming a marriage gift to the wife 
of his adopted son, he said : " This gift and bequest is made as a 
token of my great affection for her, a memento of her uniform at- 
tention to me, and kindness on all occasions. When worn down 
with sickness, pain, and debility, she has been more than a daughter 
to me, and I hope that she will never be disturbed by any one in 
the enjoyment of this gift and bequest." 

The exalted sphere of the ladies which his heart appreciated, his 
hand was ever ready to acknowledge. He successfully threatened 
the recreant soldier with the fear of their frown as a preventive of 
desertion — he was accustomed to speak of them as " last at the cross, 
first at the sepulchre, and foremost in the cause of justice and hu- 
manity" — their defence and protection was his watchword on the 
plains of Chalmette, and when, after the lapse of a quarter of a 
century, he revisited those scenes of his early struggles for the last 
time, the charming daughters of the sunny south, those whom he 
had protected from the ruthless invader in their infant cradles, re- 
ceived him on carpets of roses, and loaded his venerable brow with 
kisses of gratitude. Chivalrous to the last, he makes them the um- 
pire before whom American valour shall become emulous upon the 
battle-field for the heir-looms of patriotism. 

But as the last touches of the pencil give beauty and fidelity to 
the picture, so the closing scenes of the veteran's life become the 
most interesting portion of his history. As in earlier life he was 
the brave and dauntless soldier in defence of his country's rights, 
so he became the brave and dauntless soldier of the cross. From 
his childhood he had revered Christianity, and often dwelt with 
grateful emotions on the tender and prayerful solicitude of his pious 
mother, during his boyhood, for his spiritual welfare. And even in 
the turbulent and boisterous periods of his career, when all his 
energies were concentrated in the conduct of sanguinary British 
28* 



330 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

and Indian wars, although vehement and impetuous of spirit, the 
purest religious feelings animated his heart and shaped his inclina- 
tions. There is not in our language a more beautiful form of 
prayer and thanksgiving than is contained in a portion of his con- 
gratulatory and farewell address to his soldiers at New Orleans after 
the battle of the eighth — meekly giving all the glory of the victo- 
ry to the God of battles, in whom he had put his trust. I have 
heard an old warrior against the Indians say, that on the eve of one 
of the most deadly conflicts in the Creek nation, when they were 
on watch for the enemy, whom they knew to be near, and when 
an order had been given that there should be no unnecessary noise 
in camp, one of the guard approached the general and complained 
that a soldier was praying unnecessarily loud. " God forbid," said 
he, "that praying should be considered an unnecessary noise in 
my camp." 

These feelings ripened with age into a firmly settled conviction 
and conversion ; and for the last eight years he who had led and 
directed his countrymen on so many well fought fields, who had 
humbled the proud British lion upon our south-western shore, and 
sent him howling home to his sea-girt den — who had wrung the 
unwilling acknowledgment of our country's rights from the crowned 
heads of Europe — might be seen upon the Sabbath, when his health 
would permit, bowing with his neighbourhood circle in deep hu- 
mility and humble adoration before the little altar which he had 
caused to be planted a short distance from his house, devotedly and 
sincerely partaking of the sacred emblems of faith. I witnessed 
this — but I witnessed no richly embroidered carpets on which to 
walk — no silken and velvet cushions on which to kneel — no gor- 
geous purples in which to robe the chief — no pomp — no parade- 
no insignia of superiority or power, like those which glitter within 
the royal chapels of princes and potentates. All was plainness, 
simplicity, piety, Christian purity. He fostered that little church 
with a father's solicitude and protection ; and one of his last wishes 
was that it might be sustained for ever. 

In the full enjoyment of his mental faculties, he died as he had 
lived — undismayed, unterrified. Even death, at whose approach 
mankind are prone to shudder, though he had long tortured the 
veteran's frame with the most excruciating pains, as if to apply 
the severest tests to his resigned spirit, could not shake his nerve 
or make his resolution tremble. He had spoken of the coming 
event for many months as one would naturally speak of a journey 
to a distant country not soon to return, and had taken great care in 
the adjustment of his temporal affairs, arranging all his papers, and 
leaving them where they would be accessible to the historian of 
hi? country. 

We rarely see a happier combination of all the virtues which 



Harris's eulogy. 331 

belong to man than the character of Jackson exhibited; and when 
the faithful historic pen shall institute its comparisons between him 
and the celebrated heroes and statesmen of antiquity, who favoured 
the acquisition of territory by conquest and not by the influence of 
sound opinion upon the minds of the millions, whose object was to 
tyrannize over the world, and not to diffuse the blessings of free in- 
stitutions amongst the governed, who were more ambitious of ephe- 
meral popularity and power than of permanent welfare — the slaves 
of princely pride and passion, and not the faithful and accountable 
servants of their countrymen — who lived as reckless adventurers, 
and died by the hands of violence — when these lines of contrast 
shall be drawn, as they will be drawn, by the pen of the impartial 
annalist, we shall need no lofty pillar of Trajan, no sculptured 
arches, no massive column of Napoleon, to commemorate his deeds 
of glory, for they will be enshrined in our hearts, and transmitted 
to the latest generation of our posterity. 

Had he been faultless, he had been more than man. Do you 
remember that he had any imperfections? Where, on earth, may 
we look for perfection ?- Error is one of the first offspring of 
humanity — and if in his career you have discovered indiscretions, 
you will at least admit, that they were of that class which " some- 
times serve us well when better judgment fails." 

He is gone. " I bequeath," said he, in his last will and testa- 
ment, " my body to the dust whence it came, and my soul to God 
who gave it, hoping for a happy immortality through the atoning 
merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world. My 
desire is, that my body be buried by the side of my dear departed 
wife, in the garden of the Hermitage, in the vault there prepared." 

In the circle of an ever-watchful and devoted family, he expired 
on a summer's evening of our holy Sabbath. He had said it was 
probably the last he would be permitted to enjoy on earth, and had 
called his household to his bedside to tell them of the pleasant paths 
of righteousness, and to express a dying Christian's hope that he 
might meet them all again in Heaven. 

The funeral orator at his burial, held up a small copy of the 
Bible which had been literally worn out by the veteran's own hand, 
who was accustomed to consult it freely, to listen to its teachings, 
to believe in its promises, and to regard it as the only anchor of his 
spiritual safety. 

It was as he had desired. In the vault, which he had years be- 
fore caused to be prepared for its reception, his body was buried by 
the side of his dear departed wife, in the garden of the Hermitage, 
amongst ample beds of variegated flowers in full bloom, cultivated 
and arranged with taste and elegance under the eye of his " more 
than daughter" — a spot on which nature had been encouraged to 
lavish the brightest charms of Flora — in all its beauty, simplicity, 



332 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

arid sweetness, more acceptable for the remains of the plain repub- 
lican patriot, than the marble sarcophagus of Septimus Severus, 
which in life he had rejected with a freeman's indignation — nay, 
than the proudest of the Egyptian pyramids. 

Ey a few of his aged friends and compatriots in arms, his body 
was silently laid in its last consecrated spot — a select choir chanted 
his favourite psalm as a requiem, and the gallant military corps, 
which had long borne aloft his portrait on their banner, discharged 
their musketry over his resting place. 

It was an hour of tears. Thousands were there to witness it. 
As the veteran soldier, with his whitened locks, lowered the re- 
mains of his old general into their last Ions home, the tear which 
trembled on his eye-lid and then trickled down his furrowed cheek, 
told the beholder that it was from the fountain of deep, deep grief. 

As the throng pressed nearer the spot to witness the last solem- 
nities over the hallowed relics of their country's benefactor, a 
keener sense of their loss was manifest, and few, indeed, were 
tearless in that assembly. 

"To live with fame, the gods allow 
To many. But to die willi equal lustre, 
Is a gilt, which Heaven selects 
From all the choicest boons of fate, 
And with a sparing hand, on few bestows." 

Like the Father of his country, he descended to the grave loaded 
with all the civil and military honours of his countrymen — like him, 
he welcomed the battle-field, welcomed the olive branch of peace, 
welcomed the public service, welcomed retirement, welcomed life, 
welcomed death, and abides in the grateful hearts of millions of 
freemen. Like him, his memor} r will bloom upon our altars for 
ages and ages with perennial freshness. The mother shall teach her 
infant to lisp their names in unison — the father shall teach him to 
emulate their sterling virtues. An admiring posterity shall make 
frequent pilgrimages to Mount Vernon in the East, and the Her- 
mitage in the West, to linger around the mounds which contain the 
ashes of the illustrious dead, to commune with the spirits of the 
immortal Washington and Jackson. 



EULOGY 

DELIVERED AT POTTSVILLE, PA., JULY 10, 1845, 



BY 



Rev. D. D. LORE 



We are assembled, my countrymen, in vast numbers, to pay the 
tribute that true greatness demands of justice. And the honour- 
able part that your partiality has assigned to me on this solemn and 
imposing occasion, is "to deliver a eulogy on the life and charac- 
ter of General Andrew Jackson." 

Eulogies are the spontaneous emotions of the human heart, ex- 
cited by the virtuous and brave deeds of our fellow men. Hence, 
they are coeval with the history of mankind. The bards of a coun- 
try were the primitive eulogists of its heroes. They were em- 
ployed to compose and rehearse verses in honour of the heroic 
achievements of princes and brave men. They accompanied the 
armies to battle, and took their stand in some conspicuous place, 
and when the warrior fell, covered with honourable wounds, he 
turned his dying eye to the poet, who made him immortal in song. 
The effect of these panegyrics on the national character was inde- 
scribable. They placed glory and renown before the warrior, and 
on the day of battle excited his courage to perfect enthusiasm. 

History informs us that when Edward I. of England, invaded 
North Wales, he found it impossible to establish his authority, while 
the Welsh bards were permitted to live. For they, by rehearsing in 
their songs the glorious achievements of the ancient Britons, kept 
alive an heroic spirit of freedom and independence. He therefore 
cruelly ordered the minstrels to be massacred wherever they were 
found. And in the ancient republics of Greece and Rome, eulogy 
was one of the strongest influences in exercise, for the preservation 
of the spirit of patriotism. It is said of the latter in the time of 
Augustus, they had swelled into two thousand volumes. 

Eulogies, indeed, are intimately connected with republican in- 
stitutions. They are the tributes paid bv a brave and free people, 

(333) 



334 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

to worth, to wisdom, and to virtue. They are, in a word, republi- 
can monuments, more durable than 

"The Heaven-aspiring pyramid, the proud 
Triumphal arch, and all that e'er upheld 
The worshipp'd names of hoar antiquity, "- 

Transmitting to deathless fame, the well-earned renown of pure 
patriotism. 

They had their origin in truth, and in the noblest feelings of the. 
human soul, but have been too often debased to the ignoble service 
of adulation. Even Rome herself, who had cherished, sepulchred, 
and eulogised, so much true wisdom, virtue, and worth, stooped at 
last, ingloriously, to flatter power and honour crimes ; and servilelv 
said to the infamous Nero, " Choose, Caesar, what place you will 
among the immortal gods. Will you sway the sceptre of Jupiter, 
or mount the chariot of Apollo ? There is not a deity who will nol 
yield his empire unto you, and count it an honour to resign in youi 
favour." When eulogy so high-born is thus degraded, it becomes 
an offence to the truly magnanimous. May the tongue of the 
American orator cleave to the roof of his mouth, and his right arrr 
fall withered to his side, who shall first attempt to bestow Americans 
praise so unworthily ! 

But when eulogies are discriminately bestowedj their influence is 
most salutary in a republican state. They should be pronounced b) 
the voice of the nation ; by the voice of the whole nation. Anc 
then they will excite to deeds of noble emulation, to national virtue 
and to love of country. A nation's favour should be sold only al 
the highest and most honourable price. It should be made an ob- 
ject worthy the ambition of her noblest sons, and when won, shoulc 
never be withheld. This would be an evil only surpassed by the 
opposite extreme. When a republic shall consent for her great mei 
to go down to the grave unknelled and unheralded, it will be a da) 
ominous of evil to her institutions. 

It was the custom of the ancient Egyptians, to bring the charac- 
ters of rulers and subjects after their death before a tribunal of 
judges, where they were solemnly acquitted or condemned, ac- 
cording to their merits. The profligate citizen and the wicket 
tyrant, were delivered up to eternal infamy. But the fathers of th< 
people, and those who had laboured for the public good, receivec 
those funeral panegyrics and honours due to their virtuous deeds 
At a royal funeral, the ceremony was as follows : Accusations wen 
first received against the deceased. The priest then rose to pro- 
nounce the eulogy, and celebrate the good actions of the monarch 
If he had reigned well, the innumerable multitude assemblet 
answered the priest with loud acclamations ; if he had reigned ill 
a general murmur ensued, — and such kings were deprived by thei 
people of burial, even though they had erected proud mausoleum 



lore's eulogy. 335 

to receive their bones. A custom thus worthy the country in 
which the arts and sciences were cradled, and in which Homer, 
Plato, Solon, and Lycurgus, were schooled. 

It is thus, fellow-citizens, that we would perform our task to-day. 
Will you by your murmur warn us to cease — or by your loud ac- 
claim, warrant us to proceed to speak of Andrew Jackson as an 
American general, statesman, and sage. (Great applause.) 

Fellow-citizens : — The man whose memory we have met to 
honour this day, was worthy this great national demonstration of 
respect. True, " he was born to fortune and fame unknown." He 
boasted not a long line of ancestors ; he paraded no pompous titles; 
he claimed no royal prerogatives. He needed not these adventitious 
circumstances to make him great. He was one of "nature's noble- 
men!" 

You will expect of me, as a matter of course, a sketch of his 
history. 

Andrew Jackson was an American by birth. Born in South Caro- 
lina, in the Waxhaw settlement, on the 15th of March, 1767. At 
an early age, he was left fatherless. The spreading ravages of the 
Revolutionary war drove him from the academy of science, and at 
the early age of thirteen, he laid aside his books for the implements 
of war, and became a soldier of the Revolution. At the hallowed 
altar, the pure flame of patriotism was kindled in young Jackson's 
bosom, which burned brightly and intensely through a long life. 
He was a prisoner of war at fourteen, when, for claiming his right 
as such, and resenting an indignity, he received an honourable 
wound from a brutal officer. One of his brothers was already slain 
in battle, and the other was now fatally wounded by his side. He 
was soon exchanged as a prisoner of war by the exertions of his 
affectionate mother, and returned home ; but it was only to see his 
only surviving relative, that mother, die. 

We see him again, at the peace of 1783, emerging from the 
storms of the Revolution, an orphan boy. Bereft of all his kindred, 
without patronage or property, alone in the world. And what was 
still worse, he had formed profligate habits. How exceedingly un- 
promising were the prospects of this stripling at the age of eighteen 
years. But there was a " divinity within him that shaped his ends." 
An ethereal spirit that could not be borne down by adversity. At 
this turning point in his history, he entered as a law student in 
Salisbury, North Carolina, and in two years after, he was admitted 
to the bar as practising attorney. He immediately repaired to 
Nashville, Tennessee, where he established himself, and acquired 
honour and profit by his profession. 

We now arrive at the commencement of his public career. His 
first public appointment to office was by Washington, as attorney- 
general for the district. He was still a young man. At the age 



336 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

of twenty-nine, he was honoured with a seat in the convention 
assembled to form a constitution for the state of Tennessee. The 
same year he was chosen to represent that state in Congress, in the 
House of Representatives. At the age of thirty, he was elected to 
the Senate of the United States. After two years' services as 
Senator, he resigned. He was immediately appointed to the bench 
of the Supreme Court of his state. This office he also resigned as 
soon as practicable. In 1811, we find him in the character of 
negotiator with the Creek Indians, and when the treaty of Spain, 
ceding the Floridas, was ratified in 1821, he was appointed by the 
president to receive the provinces, and to establish the government. 
He was then offered by President Monroe, the post of minister 
plenipotentiary to the court of Mexico, but refused upon republican 
principles. In 1822, such was his reputation at home, that the 
general assembly of Tennessee recommended Andrew Jackson for 
president of these United States. And in the following year, he 
was elected a second time to the United States Senate, which 
honour he a second time resigned, on being nominated by the people 
for the presidency. In 1828, he was elected to this high office by 
a majority in the electoral college of more than two to one. And 
in 1832, he was re-elected by an unequalled and overwhelming 
popular vote, amidst the enthusiastic plaudits of the people ; our 
own state giving him a majority of some fifty thousand votes! In 
1837, he again retired from public office to the Hermitage, on the 
banks of the Cumberland river. 

Such is a brief sketch of the political career of Andrew Jackson, 
which of itself shows that his countrymen trusted him, honoured 
him, and loved him. That they esteemed him worthy, and cheer- 
fully assigned to him a place among the first of those whom they 
delighted to honour. And the civil duties and offices crowded upon 
him from the age of twenty-five to the years of threescore and 
ten, were enough themselves to have filled up, with unceasing ac- 
tivity, the full measure of the days of a common man. Contrast 
the orphan boy of South Carolina, who, at the age of nineteen years, 
was penniless, friendless, and professionless, with Andrew Jackson, 
the politician, rising regularly, through every gradation of office, 
from that of district attorney to the presidency of the United States, 
and is there not evidence enough to convince all, that he whose 
memory we this day honour was no common man ? 

No! he was an w/icommon man. He filled another measure of 
days. He lived another life. To justify this, we will now glance 
at his military character. Though he was not, like the great Han- 
nibal, taken, at the early age of twelve years, to the altar to swear 
eternal hostility to the enemies of his country, yet, at the age of 
thirteen, we find him a soldier engaged in battle, a prisoner of war, 
and mingling his young blood with that of the patriots of " '76." 
He was thus early dedicated to the service of his country, and the 



337 

pledge then given, and sealed with blood, was ever most faithfully 
kept. When thirty-two years of age, he was chosen, by the field- 
officers of the Tennessee militia, their major-general. It was in 
this character that he conducted a most successful campaign against 
the Creek Indians, headed by the celebrated Tecumseh, and abetted 
by British officers. Here he first displa}'ed the qualities of a great 
general. Such was the vigour and celerity of his movements, that 
in six months, with the loss of only ninety men killed on the field, 
he fought three pitched battles, slew thirteen hundred of the ene- 
my, took a large number of prisoners, and closed the war on his 
own terms. And he did this under the most unfavourable circum- 
stances. His own health feeble, his troops raw and undisciplined, 
his supplies cut off, until, through want of food, the militia deter- 
termined to desert, and the volunteers mutinied, and were only 
checked in their retreat by the personal courage of their general. 
The signal abilities of the Tennessee commander in this war drew 
the attention of the general government, and a commission of ma- 
jor-general in the United States army was forwarded to him in 
May, 1814. 

In the summer of this year, on his own responsibility, he scoured 
the Spanish possessions in the Floridas, and dislodged our enemies, 
both British and Indians, who availed themselves of that neutral 
ground for shelter. With a sagacity characteristic of the man, he 
already anticipated the attack on New Orleans. He therefore has- 
tened to that city and established his head-quarters on the first of 
December. He found it in the most defenceless condition, and 
what was still worse, "filled with British spies and stipendiaries." 
He appealed to the citizens, to the governor, and the legislature, 
then in session to exert themselves, for their defence. His ianguage 
was, " With energy and expedition all is safe — delay further and all 
is lost." He suggested to the legislature the propriety of suspend- 
ing the habeas corpus act. But there was not time for their slow 
deliberations, and he at once proclaimed the city of New Orleans 
to be under martial law. He closed the halls of legislation, and 
arrested the judge of the United States Court, saying, " I must be 
brief, there is treason." And the hastening events fully justified 
his expedition. 

He wrote to General Coffee, " You must not sleep until you ar- 
rive within striking distance." The order was obeyed, and Gene- 
ral Coffee marched eight hundred men eighty miles the last day, a 
march unparalleled in the annals of war. On the 23d of Decem- 
ber, at one o'clock P. M., General Jackson received information 
that the enemy had landed, and were marching upon the city. He 
resolved to meet them that night. He did so, and gave them battle, 
and made a bloody mark over which they were not permitted to 
pass. The preparations and skirmishings between this and the de- 
oq 



338 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

cisive engagement convinced the enemy that they had no mean foe 
to contend against. Jackson seldom slept ; he was always at his 
post, and with the keen glance, and the celerity of the noble bird 
whose emblem he bore, he detected and defeated every movement 
of the enemy. 

The morning of the eighth of January dawned. A thick fog 
concealed the movements of the advancing army until they were 
within a short distance of the American intrenchments. It was 
commanded by Sir E. Packenham, in person, and was pressing on- 
ward. The odds was fearful. The flower of the British forces, 
the veteran warriors ot England, were there, just from the battle- 
fields of Europe, flushed with victory, with their honours thick 
upon them. The steady advance of that well-disciplined army 
was majestic, and awfully grand. But it was all in vain. That 
noble general was uttering his last command, that noble army was 
advancing to certain death. British honour was about to be tramp- 
led the second time in the American dust ! They advance — but 
see, they waver ! The command of the American general is given. 
The rattling hail-stones of death bursts forth and dashes that noble 
army as with a tornado of destruction. The fatal fire of the western 
marksman was terribly destructive. The defeat total. And the 
enemy retreated, leaving thousands dead on the field. General 
Jackson was victorious, New Orleans was saved. The power of 
the enemy was broken, and all accomplished with the loss of but 
thirteen men. 

Never did the glory of a victory more exclusively belong to a 
general than did the victory of New Orleans to General Jackson. 
And here is " glory enough." We need trace the military history 
of General Jackson no further. We need not add another leaf to 
the wreath of victory that binds his brow ! The fame of the hero 
of New Orleans is imperishable. 

But Andrew Jackson was great in moral qualities. The ener- 
getic sublimity of his moral character has never been questioned, 
or surpassed. His high resolve, his inflexible decision, and his de- 
fiance of danger were a sure guarantee for the faithful discharge of 
every duty. 

Courage and firmness were the most remarkable traits in his cha- 
racter. Indeed, they formed the star of his destiny, and it was 
ever in the ascendant from the time it first became conspicuous on 
the banks of the Mississippi, until it was lost in the light of a 
brighter day, on the banks of the Cumberland. And that his cou- 
rage and firmness were of the highest order, arising from the press- 
ing obligations of duty, we are warranted in believing, because 
(hey acted uniformly, and never faltered under the most trying cir- 
cumstances. These qualities when merely constitutional, often fail 



lore's eulogy. 339 

when most needed. But in Andrew Jackson they were equal to 
every exigency. 

When he saw the right he approved it, and in pursuance of it 
feared no responsibility. He dared to disobey the voice of the 
highest authority, where obedience to the mandate would have 
been traitorous to the cause of humanity and justice. He dared to 
throw himself in front of a half-famished, mutinous, and deserting 
army, and arrest the progress, at the peril of marching over his 
dead body, when the protection of helpless women and children, 
from the merciless savage, require it. He dared, fearless of the 
rampant lion, to arrest and execute foreign subjects when the peace 
of his country demanded the hazard. And had the plea been " I 
am a Roman citizen," in the best days of that mistress of the world, 
their fate would have been unaltered. 

As a civilian, this trait was no less conspicuous. When adjust- 
ing the affairs of Florida, in order to protect female orphans in 
their rights, he hesitated not to arrest and imprison the Spanish 
Governor Callava. And when elected to the chief-magistracy of 
our republic, it is well known our foreign relations called for the 
utmost decision and promptitude of action. And } r ou also know 
how speedily those relations were adjusted. When internal disor- 
ders threatened the dismemberment of our Union, the dictate of 
his courageous and firm soul was : " Our federal Union — it must 
be preserved." 

But he was also distinguished for his benevolence and humanity. 
His charge to his army, when about to engage a savage foe, is the 
language of a truly benevolent and humane man. " We must con- 
quer as men who owe nothing to chance, and who, in the midst of 
victory, can still be mindful of what is due to humanity." At the 
bloody battle of the " Horseshoe," an incident occurred illustrating 
these traits that shines out like a bright star in a dark sky. It was 
this : A living infant was found on the breast of its dead mother. 
Of this infant General Jackson took personal charge, adopted it 
into his own family, and reared and ever protected the Indian or- 
phan. This touching incident reflects more honour on the heart 
of the general than the entire glory of the Creek war. And in 
the case of the New Orleans fine, the dignity of the man and his 
generosity are most happliy blended. The fine imposed he paid, and 
the amount raised by the indignant citizens was, at his request, be- 
nevolently appropriated. 

Such is an imperfect sketch of the political, military, and moral 
character of Andrew Jackson. 

His achievements and his virtues have inscribed his name as se- 
cond on the scroll of his country's fame, and enshrined his memory 
in the hearts of the American people. Side by side, in our history 
and our hearts, he shall have a place with our own incomparable 



340 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Washington. Though unequal, they were not altogether unlike. 
The one was as fond of* the banks of the Cumberland, as the other 
was of the banks of the Potomac. 

Did Washington voluntarily lay aside his honours, and retire to 
Mount Vernon? Four times did Jackson resign civil authority to 
return to rural occupations. From the conduct of three great and 
successful campaigns was he followed to his quiet home by the ac- 
clamations of his countrymen. And without a longing wish, after 
filling the highest office in the gift of the people, for the longest 
term of years, he returned to the Hermitage to die in peace ! ! 

Such, my countrymen, was the man we mourn. But there is 
joy amidst our sorrows. Andrew Jackson's greatness was completed 
by his Christian faith. The top stone was brought forth with 
shoutings of " grace, grace unto it !" Had he departed this life 
without a hope of a blessed immortality, our task upon this occa- 
sion, would have been a mournful one indeed. But like the cloud- 
less sun, increasing in magnitude and magnificence as it goes down 
beyond his western tomb, so was the decline of his sun of life. It 
rose with the dawn of our national day ; its upward ascent arrested 
attention ; its burning meridian magnificence fixed our gaze ; but 
its setting has exceeded its morning promise, or its noon-day glories. 
He died a Christian. Therefore, my beloved countrymen, " com- 
fort yourselves with these, words." 

His Christian faith arrested particular attention in his latter days. 
With characteristic wisdom he closed his political career, retired to 
the silent shades of the Hermitage, and there prepared to die. And 
the religious responses from that quiet retreat, should be received 
by us with more than oracular authority. The sentiments of the 
dying patriot and sage, should be treasured up in the innermost 
sanctuary of our hearts. He was a Christian, as he was every- 
thing else, decidedly and wholly. No important interest of Chris- 
tianity seems to have been overlooked by him. The Bible, the 
Sabbath, and the Sunday School, all received the hearty approval 
and commendation of Andrew Jackson. 

Of the word of God, he said : " The Bible is true. Upon that 
sacred volume, I rest my hope of eternal salvation, through the 
merits and blood of our blessed Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ." 
His old Bible, thumbed and worn by constant use, he held up in his 
right hand, and said to Doctor Edgar : " This book, sir, is the bul- 
wark of our republican institutions, the anchor of our present and 
future safety." Remember the sentiment, American Republicans : I 
will repeat it. It is a voice that comes to us on the wings of the 
sighing winds from the far off Hermitage : " This book, sir, is the 
bulwark of our republican institutions, the anchor of ovr present 
and future safety." It is said his Bible was ever by his side. Like 
the pillar of the cloud, the symbol of Jehovah's covenant with 



lore's eulogy. 341 

Israel in the wilderness, it was moved when he moved, it rested 
where he rested. 

As the light of the Sabbath broke over his earthly habitation, he 
remarked, " This day is the holy Sabbath ordained by God, and 
set apart to be devoted to his worship and praise, I always attended 
service at church when I could, but now I can go no more." 

He charged his family to continue the instruction of the poor at 
the Sabbath School. This new system of instruction, he said, which 
blended the duties of religion with those of humanity, he considered 
as of vast importance. He seemed anxious to impress the family 
with these sentiments. And in his last moments, two of his grand- 
children were sent for from the Sabbath School to receive his 
blessing. 

Here was the full-souled and intelligent Christian. He made 
the Bible the rule of faith and practice. He made the Bible the 
foundation of the liberties of his country. Observance of the holy 
Sabbath day — attendance upon the services of the sanctuary — and 
the religious education of the young, were all inculcated by pre- 
cept and practice. These are the sentiments, my countrymen, that 
I would have you treasure up in your hearts, and exemplify in 
vour lives. What a testimony have we from the lips of Andrew 
Jackson to the truth of our holy religion. He was great because 
he was good ! 

Nor did the dying patriarch serve his God for nought. The hero 
of Marathon was left to die in a dungeon. Caius Marius, in his 
old a°r, was driven to seek shelter amidst the ruins of Carthage. 
Woolsey was left to die, lamenting : — " Had I but served my God 
as dili^entlv as I have served the king, he would not have given 
me over in my grey hairs." But Jackson's latter end was different 
from all this. He had served his country and he had served his 
God. And now, at the death-bed of the patriot and Christian, the 
sympathies of both worlds combined for his support. 

When questioned, a few days before his death, as to his future 
prospects, he said : " My lamp of life is nearly out ; the last glim- 
mer has come ; I am ready to depart when called." And on the 
day of his death, but a few hours before life's last struggle, recover- 
ing from a swoon, and finding his family around his bed in the 
deepest grief, he said : " My dear children, do not grieve for me. 
It is true, I am going to leave you. I am well aware of my situa- 
tion. I have suffered much bodily pain, but my sufferings are but 
as nothing, compared with what our blessed Saviour endured upon 
that accursed cross, that we might all be saved who put our trust in 
him." He then calmly proceeded to take his final farewell of his 
family, individually. After which he addressed them for near half 
an hour on the truth and comforts of the Christian religion, and 
closed by saying : " My dear children, and friends, and servants, I 
29 * 



34-2 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

trust to meet you all in Heaven, both white and black ! both white 
and black! /" And at six o'clock in the evening of the 8th day of 
June, he died full of davs and full of honours. In death we look 
upon him 

"As some tall tower or lofty mountain's brow 
Detains the sun, illustrious from their height, 
The good man dying, rears his august head. 
Sweet peace and Heavenly hope, and humble faith 
Divinely beam on his exalted soul — 
Destruction gild and crown him for the skies 
With incommunicable lustre bright." 

Such was the man, and such his death, whose virtues and whose 
services have called us together on this occasion. Long may his 
memory live. Long may his virtues be cherished and practised by 
American Citizens. 



A 

DISCOURSE ON THE DUTY OF A PATRIOT, 

WITH 
SOME ALLUSIONS ON THE LIFE AND DEATH 

OF 

ANDREW JACKSON; 

PRONOUNCED JULY 6, 1845, 
BY 

GEORGE W. BETHUNE, 

MINISTER OF THE THIRD REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, PHILADELPHIA. 



"For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he 
commanded our fathers that they should make them known to their children; 
that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be 
born, who should arise and declare them to their children, that they might set 
their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments." 
— Psalm lxxviii. 5, 6, 7. 

Among our many national sins, there is none more likely to pro- 
voke divine chastisement, yet less considered or repented of, even 
by Christians, than ingratitude for political blessings. That there 
are evils among us, no one will deny ; that changes might be made 
for the better, it were unreasonable to doubt ; and, concerning me- 
thods of removing evil, or working good, we may differ widely, 
yet honestly. Evil is inseparable from human nature, the best hu- 
man schemes are capable of improvement, and human opinions 
must be various, because they are fallible. It is a narrow, unthank- 
ful spirit, which, brooding over imperfections, or sighing after 
greater advantages, or bitterly condemning all who think not the 
same way, refuses to perceive and acknowledge the vast benefits 
we actually enjoy. Never was there a revolution at once so just 
and so successful as that which won our country's independence ; 
never, except in the Bible, have the rights of man been so clearly 
and truly defined as in our constitution ; never did greater success 
attend a social experiment than has followed ours. Since the es- 
tablishment of our confederacy, tumults, insurrections, and violent 
changes, have been busy in all the civilized world besides. Throne 

(343) 



344 MONUMEiNT TO JACKSON. 

after throne has fallen, and dynasties have been built up on the 
bloody ruins of dynasties. In some nations the people have wrung, 
by force, partial concessions from hereditary rule ; in others, after 
convulsive, misdirected efforts, they have been crushed again by 
the iron hoof of despotism; nor is the voice of a prophet needed 
to foretell a long, desperate struggle of uprising humanity with the 
powers of political darkness ; while the bloody discords and con- 
stant confusion of other republics on the same continent with our- 
selves, demonstrate the incompatibility of freedom with ignorance 
and superstition. Ours is now, with the exception of the Russian 
and British (if, indeed, the passage of the Reform Bill was not an 
organic change), older than any monarchical government in Christ- 
endom. The increase of our population from less than three mil- 
lions to twenty, in seventy years, multiplies many times any former 
example ; yet, notwithstanding the enormous migration to us from 
various countries, where free principles are unknown, our wide 
land has more than enough room for all : growth in numbers has 
been a chief cause of our growth in wealth, and our laws, strong 
as they are liberal, have proved themselves sufficient to compose, 
maintain and rule all in concord, prosperity and power. You will 
search in vain for another example of a vast nation governed, with- 
out troops or armed police, by their own will. It is not five years 
since, that our people, spread out over an immense territory, after 
a contest in which the utmost enthusiasm excited both parties, 
changed their rulers. Yet not a bayonet was fixed, nor a cannon 
pointed, nor a barricade raised, to guard the place of suffrage. The 
ballot, falling noiselessly as snow upon the rock, achieved the re- 
sult. Within the last twelvemonth, the stupendous process has 
been repeated as peaceably and safely. Each of the great political 
sects, which divide the popular vote, has triumphed and been 
beaten. Much there has been to censure in the harsh recrimina- 
tion and unfraternal bigotry on either side ; but when the decision 
was reached, though the long-rolling swells which succeed the 
storm did not at once subside, and here and there some violent 
partisan may have betrayed his vexation, the surface became calm, 
and the noise soon died away. Every true patriot, submissive to 
the oracle of the polls, whether wisdom or error, said in his heart, 

Gon BLESS THE PEOrLE ! 

Our difficulties, real or supposed, have arisen out of our advan- 
tages, for good an d evil are mixed with all human affairs. The 
freedom of those institutions under which we live, has its price, 
which must be paid, so long as man is prone to abuse, by impatience 
and excess, those favours of Almighty God which yield happiness 
only when they are used moderately and religiously. Elated by 
prosperity, we have forced our growth too fast. We have attempted 
by plausible inventions to transcend the laws of trade and produc- 



bethune's discourse. 3-±5 

tion. We have complicated the machinery of our interests until 
our clear, simple constitution, has become, in the hands of sophisti- 
cating politicians, a riddle of mysteries. The limits of habitation 
have been enlarged beyond the blessings of church and school-house. 
Vices and faults, peculiar to new settlements, have reached the 
heart of our legislation. To carry on our far-grasping schemes, we 
have strained our credit till it broke. Freedom of speech and of 
the press, has been abused to licentiousness by prejudice, rashness, 
and selfish ambition. Acknowledging as we do the rights of con- 
science in their broadest meaning, even the holy name of religion 
has been dragged upon the arena of party. 

Our republic is not a paradise ; our countrymen, like ourselves, 
are not angels, but frail, erring men. Our history has been an ex- 
periment. Mistakes have been made and will be made. It is thus 
that we are to learn. Shall we, in coward skepticism, overlook 
our immense advantages to hang our fears upon a few faults, or 
prognosticate the failure of a system which has accomplished so 
much, because it shares with others the imperfections of humanity ? 
Is there a sober-minded man among us, who would be willing to 
encounter the oppressions of what are called strong governments, 
that he might escape from under our present system 1 Our faults 
are our own, and our misfortunes are consequences of our faults ; 
but our political advantages are God's rich gifts, which it becomes 
us thankfully to receive and piously to improve. All our evils 
have their legitimate remedies, and there is no danger which may 
not be avoided by a wise care. Instead, therefore, of querulous 
fears and ungrateful discontent, the Christian patriot should zeal- 
ously inquire what he can do to secure and advance the best wel- 
fare of our beloved land. Our holy text is full of instruction to 
this end. 

The psalmist is describing the policy of God with Israel, the 
people whom he wished to know no king but himself, and there- 
fore, the only safe policy for any people who would preserve their 
liberties from the encroachment of despotic rule. 

" He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in 
Israel, which he commanded our fathers that they should make 
them known to their children ; that the generation to come might 
know them, even the children which should be born ; who should 
arise and declare them to their children, that they might set their 
hopes in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his com- 
mandments." 

We see here, 

First : The character of a safe and h&bfjt teople. 

" They set their hopes in God ; they forget not the works of 
God : they keep his commandments." 



346 monument to jackson. 

Secondly : The means which God has appointed for culti- 
vating THIS CHARACTER. 

" He established a law in Jacob, and appointed a testimony in 
Israel." 

Thirdly : The obligation upon a Christian patriot arising 

FROM THIS PROVIDENCE OF JeHOVAII. 

" He commanded our fathers that they should make them known 
to their children ; that the generation to come might know them, 
even the children which might be born ; who should arise and de- 
clare them to their children." 

First : The character, of a safe and happy people. 

They "set their hopes in God." The man who looks to God as 
the source of his welfare, is lifted above temptation within and 
without. Conscious of a holy, heart-searching eye, upon him, his 
virtue will not be an outward semblance, cloaking from human 
sight, secret crime or selfish purposes. The opinions, fashions, or 
rewards of the world, will neither shape his principles nor modify 
his practice. He will fear to do evil, lest he should o/Fend against 
God. He will do justice and love mercy, because he walks humbly 
with God. 

His expectations of eternity will guard and sustain him in hon- 
esty. He knows himself to be immortal and God eternal; that 
vice, which no human scrutiny can detect and no human laws can 
punish, will meet a terrible vengeance, while good acts and pur- 
poses will be rewarded openly by Him, who seeth in secret, at the 
judgment day. The pains of virtue and the pleasures of vice, 
being alike transitory, are of little account in his estimation, who 
sets his hope in God, his Saviour, and his judge. He relies upon 
God, because He is merciful, and knows that he is safe, because 
God is Almighty. 

Were our nation composed of such believers, how untroubled 
would be our peace ! how entire our mutual confidence ! how free 
our affairs from intrigue, corruption, and wrong ! The key would 
never be turned in the lock, the gibbet seen no more, and the prison 
doors stand open. No man would fear, but every man would love 
his neighbour, and the true interests of all be acknowledged by 
each as his own. 

They " forget not the works of God." When God is the trea- 
sury of a man's hopes, he loves to trace the workings of God's 
wisdom and power, that he may know the sources upon which he 
can draw. He considers creation, and in its minuteness as well as 
its vastness, he reads certain proof of the same Power which made, 
ruling so perfectly, that nothing is overlooked, and so absolutely, 
that nothing is beyond his presiding will. He considers redemp- 
tion, that God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son 
as the deliverer of all who believe upon his name, and that all 



bethune's discourse. 347 

power is in the hands of our Elder Brother, the incarnate God. 
Therefore is he sure, that God rules in mercy as well as justice, 
that he will listen to the prayer of his people, and that, however 
mysterious his methods, all things are working together by the 
Holy Spirit for the universal triumph of truth, and righteousness, 
and peace. 

With such convictions, how cheering to him must be the study 
of Providence ! With what confidence, remembering the faithful- 
ness of God in the past, will he confide in him amidst the difficul- 
ties of the present, and for the developements of the future ! and 
how steadfastly reject for himself and for his country, any policy 
which crosses the unchangeable laws of God, the everliving Lord ! 

How strong would this nation be in hope and virtue, did our 
people thus remember the works of God ! for never, since the 
world began, has the providence of God been more remarkable, 
kind, and instructive, than towards us. Jehovah did not lead Israel 
forth from Egypt to the inheritance of Canaan with a more mighty 
hand or manifest care, than has been seen in our history since the 
first prayer of the pilgrim from the tyranny of the old world to 
this better country, rose through its virgin forests, until our present 
day of unexampled prosperity. 

They " keep his commandments." The believer's obedience to 
the directions of God is the necessary result of such trust and 
study. Gratitude will make him loyal to a sovereign so kind and 
faithful : a sense of his own weakness and short-sightedness will 
incline him to follow landmarks so certain, and the approbation of 
an honest conscience reward and incite him to persevere. 

"Happy is the people that are in such a case! Yea, happy, is 
that people whose God is the Lord !" 

Secondly : The means which God has appointed for culti- 
vating SUCH A CHA-RACTER. j 

"He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in 
Israel:" or, as an admirable critic translates it, "He established an 
oracle in Jacob, and deposited a revelation with Israel." 

The Psalmist, doubtless, here refers not only to the law given on 
the Mount, in which God defined human duties and prescribed re- 
ligious worship, but to all the communications which he had made 
or might } r et make to man. 

The value of the word of God is seen in the fact, that it is the 
word of God. What almighty mercy and wisdom saw fit to re- 
veal, must be of the last importance. We are sure of nothing but 
that which God has made known. Never could we have disco- 
vered his will concerning us, or known how to walk in safet} r , had 
he not said, "This is the way." Never could we have been as- 
sured of a Providence over us, or looked within the tremendous 
realities of eternity, had not he manifested himself by his own de- 



348 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

clarations, and brought immortality to light by Jesus Christ, the 
man whom he has ordained as saviour and judge. Without the 
word of God, we should be without God, ignorant, hopeless, lost 
in perplexity, the sport of conjecture, of passion, appetite, and 
dread. Truth would have no definition, oaths no confirmation, 
laws no sanction, and the grave no promise ; the past would teach 
us nothing but our ruin, and the future would be black with despair. 
When we have that word, how glorious is the reverse to the pious 
believer! We stand by the side of God when he laid the founda- 
tion of the earth, and we look beyond the catastrophe of created 
things to the fixed results of justice and love. We trace back our 
lineage to a brotherhood with every human soul ; and we learn the 
will of our common Father concerning the relations which bind 
us to him and his family on earth. We see the path of righteous- 
ness marked for our feet, and one walking by our side, " whose 
form is like to that of the Son of God," sustaining our weakness 
and assuring; our faithful obedience of eternal reward, after the 
shadows and the labours of time shall have passed away and ceased 
for ever. Nay, in the rest of the Sabbath, the worship of the sanc- 
tuary, the communion of saints, and the witnessing sacraments, we 
have the foretaste, sign, and confirmation of an eternal rest, love, 
and satisfaction in the house of God, eternal and undefiled. 

Need I ask you to consider the blessedness, here and hereafter, 
of a nation who know and obey that word, and who cultivate and 
delight in that worship! Where is the suicidal, traitor hand, that 
would dare pluck this corner-stone from the foundation of our 
hopes, and, extinguishing the light which heaven has kindled, give 
our country back to the gloom, the licentiousness, and cruelties of 
those nations which have forgotten God ! 

Thirdly : The obligations upon the Christian patriot arising 

FROM THIS rROVIDEN.CE OF GoD. 

" He commanded our fathers to make them known to their child- 
ren ; that the generation to come might know them, even the child- 
ren which should be born, who should arise and declare them unto 
their children." 

The first duty laid upon us is, to study and practise the word of 
God ourselves. It is by the light of Christian example, that the 
saving power of the gospel is made manifest to the world. The 
believer of the word of God, therefore, owes a profession and prac- 
tice of Christianity not only to God, to himself, and the church, 
but to his country, because its welfare can be secured only by re- 
ligion. 

Then, it is our duty, to the utmost of our means, to give the ad- 
vantage of the same religion to those who neglect, or cannot,, of 
themselves, obtain the means of grace, especially in the new set- 
tlements of that immense valley, the power of which already over-. 



bethune's discourse. 349 

balances the older states. Wherever a fellow-citizen is without 
the knowledge of God, there is an element of danger mingling with 
the aggregate of the national will. We can never control crime, 
nor refute error, but by truth ; and in withholding the truth of 
God, we consent to all the mischief that may be done by those, to 
whom we might teach the right, but do not. 

But, especially, are we to strive that the Bible should be in the 
hands, and by the blessing of God upon our labours, in the hearts of 
the rising generation. Upon their shoulders the burthens of society, 
our country, and the cause of God, are soon to rest. From them 
their children are to learn good or evil. Neglect a child, and you 
have neglected the man, the woman, the father, the mother, gene- 
rations yet unborn. The truth of God in our hands belongs to 
them, as much as to ourselves. It is deposited with us for their 
benefit. By omitting to give it, we rob them of God's best gift, 
and our land, in future years, of its best defence and glory. The 
means of education, so far as the arts of reading and writing go, are not 
enough. Educate with all your energies. Do nothing that may by any 
possibility interfere with, and everything to increase such instruc- 
tion ; but let us ever be ready to set the Bible before the opened 
eye and the craving mind. Better that a child should learn to read 
without the Bible, than to know not how to read the Bible. Thank 
God ! Christians need not contend for debateable ground in this mat- 
ter. With our Bible, and Tract, and Sunday School Societies, if we 
be only faithful in supporting them, we are more than a match, by 
God's help, for all the infidelity and superstition among us. We 
lose time and waste our strength, by petty squabblings with evil on 
its own dunghill. Let us rather devote all our power and zeal to 
those ready and open methods of disseminating truth, which no 
force in this land can forbid us to use. When the true church of 
God consecrates the talents she has from Him, to the spread of the 
gospel through our country, every wall that the enmity or idolatry 
of men can build against it shall fall like those of Jericho at the 
trumpeting of the Levites ; when she waks forth, the light of her 
presence shall dissipate every shadow, and, " terrible as an army 
with banners," her peaceful triumphs will crown our whole people 
with the glory of the Lord, a joy and a defence. 

Blessed be God, there are those who have felt the necessity of 
these religious efforts for the good of our country, and the immor- 
tal well-being of our countrymen. They are, indeed, but too few, 
and their zeal has not always been equal to their opportunities and 
responsibility. Yet in them, their examples of Christian conduct, 
their testimony to the power of religion, and their benevolent 
labours for fhe"illumination of the ignorant, we see the providence 
of God blessing our nation with moral life, and confirming our go- 
vernment, founded upon the will of the people, by the only suf- 
30 



350 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

ficient buttresses, knowledge, virtue, and the fear of God. The 
faithful Christian is the only faithful patriot, and he is not a faithful 
Christian who serves not his country in the name of Christ, and in 
the spirit of his gospel. 

These thoughts, as you know, have been suggested by the recent 
anniversary of our national independence, a day which should be 
dear and sacred to us all, though often miserably polluted by in- 
temperance, and profaned by party assemblages. Surely, we might 
devote one day of the year to the charities of patriotic brotherhood, 
and lose all minor distinctions in our common citizenship; nor 
should we forget before the altar of our father's God, the Author of 
all mercies, his mighty doings for us in the past ; the good, the 
great, the wise, the valiant, whom he nas raised up to serve, guide, 
and defend us ;. and the blessing which he has caused to rest upon 
their counsels, their arms, their zeal, and their sacrifices. Such 
recollections are due to Him, to our country, and to humanity. 
Children should hear the story, and the best genius contribute to its 
illustration. Fresh laurels should be plucked and wreathed upon 
the graves of the beloved for their country's sake, and eloquence 
pay its richest tribute to their heaven-sent worth, that the living may 
hear and follow their example. 

While I thus speak, the spell of a great name comes upon our 
hearts, compelling us to utter their thoughts and emotions. When 
the sun of that morning rose, it gilded the fresh tomb of one whose 
ear, for the first time since the 4th of July, 1776, failed to vibrate 
with the thunderings of his country's birth-day joy : and a voice, 
for the first time, answered not its cheers, which, since its boy- 
ish shout was heard through the Revolutionary strife, had never 
been wanting m the annual conclamation. The iron will, whose 
upright strength never quivered amidst the lightning storms that 
crashed around it in battle or controversy ; the adamantine judgment, 
against which adverse opinions dashed themselves to break into 
scattered foam ; the far-reaching faith, that flashed light upon dan- 
gers hidden from the prudence of all beside ;. the earnest affection, 
that yearned in a child's simplicity, the purpose of a sage, a 
parent's tenderness, and the humble fidelity of a sworn servant over 
the people who gave it rule and elevation, have ceased among us : 
Andrew Jackson is with God. He, who confessed no authority 
on earth but the welfare of his country and his own convictions of 
right : who never turned to rest while a duty remained to be done, 
and who never asked the support of any human arm in his hour of 
utmost difficulty ; bowed his head meekly to the command of the 
Highest, and walked calmly down into the grave, leaning upon the 
strength of Jesus; paused on the threshold of immortality to for- 
give his enemies, to pray for our liberties, to bless his weeping 
household, and to leave the testimony of his trust in the gospel of 



bethunk's discourse. 351 

the Crucified ; and then, at the fall of a Sabbath evening, passed into 
the rest which is eternal. His last enemy to be destroyed was 
death. Thanks be to God, who gave him the victory through our 
Lord Jesus Christ ! 

To say that he had faults, is to say that he was human ; the errors 
of a mind so energetic, in a career so eventful, must have been 
striking; nor could a character be subjected to censure more merci- 
less, than he provoked by a policy original and unhesitating, at open 
war with long-established usages, and dogmas that had grown into 
unquestioned axioms. Bereft in his early youth of parental 
guidance and restraint, educated in the camp and the forest bivouac, 
and forced to push his own fortunes through the rough trials of 
a border life, we can scarcely wonder that, until age had schooled 
his spirit and tempered his blood, he was impetuous, sensitive to 
insult, and prone to use the strong hand. Warm in his attachments, 
he was slow to discover frailty in those he loved, or to accord con- 
fidence where once he had doubted. Grasping, by his untutored 
genius, conclusions which other men reach by philosophical detail, 
he made, while sure of just ends, some mistakes in his methods, fur 
the time disastrous. Called to act at a crisis when the good and 
evil in our national growth had become vigorous enough for conllict, 
and wealth and labour, like the twins of Rebecca, were struggling 
for the right of the elder born, his decisions in great but sudden 
emergencies were denounced by that after criticism, which can 
look back to condemn, but is blind to lead. Compelled to resolve 
stupendous, unprecedented questions of government and political 
economy, he roused the hostility of opposite schools in those diffi- 
cult sciences. Never shrinking from any responsibility, personal 
or official, he sternly fulfilled his interpretations of duty as a co- 
ordinate branch of the national legislature, leaving his course to the 
verdict of his constituents ; nor did he hesitate to avail himself of 
all the means he could extract from the letter of the constitution, 
to achieve what he thought was the intent of its spirit. His was a 
stern, prompt, and energetic surgery, and though the body politic 
writhed under the operation, none can tell, though some may con- 
jecture, the more fatal consequences his severity averted. If he 
were wrong, public opinion has. since adopted the chief of his 
heresies, and there is no hand strong enough or daring enough to 
lay one stone upon another of that which he threw down into 
ruins. But in all this, his heart was with the people, his faith firm 
in the sufficiency of free principles; and regardless alike of depre- 
cating friends and denouncing opponents, he held on throughout to 
one only purpose, the permanent good of the whole, unchecked by 
particular privileges, and unfettered by artificial restrictions. To 
use his own lofty language, " In vain did he bear upon his person 
enduring memorials of that contest in which American liberty was 



352 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

purchased; * * * in vain did he since peril property, fame, 
and life, in defence of the rights and privileges so dearly bought, 
if any doubts can be entertained of the purity of his purposes and 
motives. * * * Nor could he have found an inducement to 
commence a career of ambition, when gray hairs and a decaying 
frame, instead of inviting to toil and battle, called him to contem- 
plate other worlds, where conquerors cease to be honoured, and 
usurpers expiate their crimes." 

But, though there are passages in his life, about which the most 
honest have held, and may yet hold, contrary opinions, there are 
services of his demanding the gratitude of all, and virtues all must 
delight to honour. Can we forget that victory, in which his ready 
strategy and consummate skill turned back, by the valour of scarce- 
ly disciplined men, the superior numbers and veteran determination 
of a foreign foe from the spoil and dishonour of a rich and popu- 
lous territory ? or the entire success, with which he delivered from 
the scalping-knife and torture of wily and ferocious savages, the 
Florida settlements, an achievement, which in subsequent trials far 
less arduous, no other leader has been able to imitate .' Or the tri- 
umph of simple firmness over diplomatic, procrastinating subtleties, 
when, planting his foot upon what was clearly right, in a determi- 
nation to suffer nothing that was clearly wrong;, he swung round a 
mighty European empire to pay its long-withheld indemnity for 
injuries done to American commerce'? And in that darkest hour 
of our country's history, when a narrow sectionalism counterfeited 
the colour of patriotic zeal, and discord shook her gorgon locks, 
and men shuddered as they saw, yawning wide in the midst of our 
confederacy, a gulf which threatened to demand the devotion of 
many a life before it would close again, how sublimely did he pro- 
claim over the land that doctrine sacred as the name of Washing- 
ton, The Union must be preserved ! and the storm died away with 
impotent mutterings. Nor is his glory in this the less, that he 
shared it with another, and that other, one whose name the ap- 
plauses of his countrymen have taught the mountains and the val- 
leys to echo down for far generations, as the gallant, the frank, the 
brilliant statesman, to whose fame the highest office could add no 
decoration, nor disappointment rob of just claims to the people's 
love. It was a lofty spectacle, full of rebuke to party jealousy and 
of instruction to their countrymen, when Henry Clay offered the 
compromise of his darling theory, and Andrew Jackson endorsed 
the new bond that made the Union again, and, as we trust, indisso- 
lubly firm. 

Remarkable as the contrast is, there were traits in the temper of 
the indomitable old man, tender, simple, and touching. With 
what faithful affection he honoured her while living, whose dear 
dust made the hope of his last resting-place more sweet, that he 



DISCOURSE. 353 

might sleep again at her side ! And, if his heart seemed sometimes 
steeled against the weakness of mercy, when crime was to be pu- 
nished, or mutiny controlled, or danger annihilated ; he could also 
stoop in his career of bloody conquest, to take a wailing, new- 
made orphan to his pitying heart ; with the same hand, that had 
just struck down invading foes, he steadied the judgment-seat 
shaken with the tremors of him who sat upon it, to pronounce sen- 
tence against him for law violated in martial necessity ; and at the 
height of authority, the poor man found him a brother and a friend. 
But, O how surpassingly beautiful was his closing scene, when, 
as the glories of his earthly honour were fading in the brightness 
of his eternal anticipations, and his head humbly rested upon the 
bosom of Him who was crucified for our sins, his latest breath 
departed in the praises of that religion which had become his 
only boast, and in earnest counsel that all who loved him might 
obtain the like faith, and meet him in heaven ! There was no 
doubt in his death ; he had prepared to meet his God ; and when 
his giant heart fainted, and his iron frame failed, God was the 
strength of his heart, and his portion for ever. Little would all his 
achievements have won for him, had he gained the whole world, 
yet lost his soul; but now his fame will survive until time shall be 
no more, and his spirit is immortal among the redeemed. The an- 
gels bore him from us, no longer the hero, the statesman, the guide 
of millions, and the master mind of his country ; but a sinner saved 
by grace to the feet of the Lamb that was slain, a little child of 
God to the bosom of his Father. My hearers, have you been his 
friends? Obey his parting counsel, and by faith in Jesus, follow 
him to heaven, whom you have delighted to follow on earth. Have 
you been in opposition to his life? Refuse not the profit of his 
death, but find in that blood, which cleansed him from all his sins, 
atonement for your own. that his last testimony had the same 
power over men's souls, as his cheer in battle, and his proclama- 
tions of political doctrine ! Then would he shine bright among 
the brightest in the constellation of those, who turn many to right- 



s' 

eousness 



My brethren, I have spoken much longer than I meant to have 
done, but you would not have withheld from me the privilege. If 
I have dwelt upon the best traits in the notable character of one, 
who has not been suffered to escape the earnest crimination of 
many, it has been because he is dead. You, who listened to me 
with so much candour, when I paid, four years since, an humble 
tribute to the merits of him who reached the height of authority 
to sink into a grave watered by a nation's tears, will not condemn 
my utterance of similar emotions now. The jackal hate, that howls 
over the lifeless body, is far removed from your Christian charity 
and generous judgment. 
30* 



354 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

"Vile is the vengeance on the ashes cold. 
And envy base to bark at sleeping mould." 

Let us rather pray as Christians, that the memory of good deeds 
may live, and the example of a Christian's death be sanctified. 
Let us, as Christian patriots, take new courage in setting forth, by 
word and practice, the paramount virtue of the religion we profess, 
to save our country, as it saves the soul ; and, while we mourn the 
conflicts of evil passion, not forget the actual good, which, by the 
Divine favour, is working out health from the mysterious fermen- 
tation. 

There is, notwithstanding occasional agitation, a calm good sense 
among our people, sufficient to recover and maintain the equili- 
brium. It is not seen blustering around the polls; it is not heard 
vociferating and applauding in party meetings ; nor, unhappily, 
does it often appear on the arena, where misnomered statesmen 
struggle rather for personal advancement than their country's good ; 
but it lives with those, who, in honest toil, are too independent to 
be bought, or, in honest competence, too content to desire the 
doubtful distinctions of popular favour. It is nurtured by the les- 
sons of holy religion. It is breathed in the prayer of God's true 
worshippers. It deliberates around the domestic hearth, where the 
father thinks of the posterity who are to live after him ;. in the 
philosophic retirement of the man of letters; in the workshop 
where the freeman feels proud of his sweat ; and in the cultured 
field, from which the farmer knows that his bread is sure by the 
bounty of heaven. It is felt in the practice of common duties, the 
example of daily virtues, and the results of observant experience. 
It is like oil on the waves of noisy strife. The man in power 
trembles as he hears its still small voice; the secret conspirator 
finds its clear eye upon him, and quails beneath the searching scru- 
tiny ; and, like the angel of Israel, it meets the demagogue on his 
way to curse the land which God has blessed, and, if he be not 
turned back, it alarms and forewarns the beast on which he rides. 

It may be said, that the party of the honest and intelligent is 
small, far smaller than, with my respect for my country, I believe 
it to be; but, if it be, it has still the controlling voice from the di- 
visions of the rest. Each disastrous experiment teaches them new 
prudence, each well-sustained trial new courage. They have not 
looked for immediate perfection, and, therefore, are willing yet to 
learn. They are the men who hold the country together, and their 
influence is the salt which saves the mass from utter corruption. I 
look upward above the dust which is raised by scuffling partisans, 
to the throne of our fathers' God ; I look backward on all the 
threatening events through which he has brought us; and I can 
commit my country to the care of Him who " maketh even the 
wrath of man to praise him," and believe that it is safe. Under 



bethune's discourse. 355 

providence, I rely with an unshaken faith on the intelligent will of 
the American people. If my faith be a delusion, may it go with 
me to my grave. When its warrant proves false, I could pray 
God, if it be his will, to let me die ; for the brightest hope that 
ever dawned on political freedom shall have been lost in darkness, 
the fairest column ever reared by the hands of men cast down, and 
the beacon-light of the world gone out. 

My hearers, we must soon appear before God to answer for all 
our conduct here. Then, what will avail all our busy, anxious, 
most successful pursuit of this world, if, through neglect of a timely 
faith and repentance, we are lost for ever? Let me entreat you, 
therefore, to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, 
that the Holy Spirit may be your g4iide, Christ your intercessor, 
and the Father receive you among thr children of his love. Until 
we have obtained this grace for ourselves, we shall seek in vain to 
do any real good ; there is no promise' of an answer to our prayers, 
or of a blessing upon our zeal. We cannot be faithful to others, 
while we remain unfaithful to God and our own souls. May the 
voice of Providence, confirming the testimony of the Scriptures, 
prevail with us all to prepare for eternity, that, in our wise pre- 
paration, we may secure our own best happiness, by rendering the 
best service to God, our country, and our race ! Amen. 



A SERMON, 



REV. THOMAS BRAINERD, 

PREACHED TO IllS CONGREGATION IN PINE STREET CHURCH, 

july C, 1845. 



" I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and 
giving of thanks, be made for all men ; for kings, and for all that are in authority, 
that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and hoticsty.'" — 
1 Timothy, ii. 1,2. 

1 . We are taught in this passage a respect for constituted authority. 
Almost any form of civil government is preferable to lawless anar- 
chy ; and, therefore, Christians, subject even to Roman despotism, 
were instructed to remember their rulers as such at the altar of 
prayer. 

2. We are taught by the text, the doctrine that God's providence 
legislates overall rulers; so that in answer to prayer, he will so 
"rule rulers, and counsel counsellors," that their course of govern- 
ment shall bless their subjects. 

3. We are taught in this passage, that Christians are to regard 
their civil duties and the welfare of their country, as a part of their 
religious obligations and responsibilities. They are so to deport 
themselves in their offices of holy living and prayer, as to bless 
mankind here, as well as hereafter. And if it be the duty of 
Christians to pray for those in authority, because rulers have a great 
influence on the weal or woe of their country, it may also be the 
duty of religious teachers to define, illustrate, and enforce the duties 
men owe to their country, as a part of the duties demanded by God. 
This I purpose to do this evening. 

4. We learn from the text who are the best rulers, and who the 
happiest subjects. Those are the best rulers who so rule that their 
subjects " lead quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and hon- 
esty." " Quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty," 
suppose the protection of just law ; property, person, freedom, and 
life made secure, and the subject himself estimating these blessings, 
pursuing a course of conduct marked by justice, temperance, 
moderation, benevolence, and piety. 

(356) 



brainerd's discourse. 357 

When these ends are secured, a nation has the highest tokens of 
God's favour. 

The topics started directly or by inference from the text, suggest 
rich materials for thought and illustration, but I do not now pur- 
pose to dwell upon them in detail. I have suggested them, not 
only because they sustain the main principles for which I shall 
contend, but because they afford license to the sacred desk for the 
discussion of these principles. 

In this discourse, I propose, without obligation to any logical ar- 
rangement, to discuss generally the following topics. 

What are the essentials of national happiness and prosperity ? 

What were the peculiar responsibilities of those who proclaimed 
our independence sixty-nine years since, and sustained it against a 
foreign power ; and what are the duties peculiarly devolving on us 
to enrich and perpetuate our national blessings? 

What lessons have been furnished to this nation by the life and 
death of one whose recent departure has aroused public attention 
and sympathy ? 

I can of course but briefly touch points of such magnitude. 

What are the essentials of national happiness and prosperity ? 

1. Negatively, national happiness and prosperity do not depend on 
extent of territory. It is indeed requisite, that our territory should 
furnish fair scope for private enterprise and universal sustenance ; 
but when we have already a domain which gives a plantation to 
every poor man who can invest two hundred dollars for its pur- 
chase — when our territory embraces the great rivers which conduct 
our commerce to the broad sea — when our climate is varied enough 
north and south to furnish the productions of every latitude — when 
our territory is large enough to embrace the resources of men and 
means to defend us from foreign aggression — it is obvious we have 
no motive for conquest or acquisition. 

2. Great wealth is not an essential ingredient of national happiness. 
All experience tells us that the middle condition of society is the 
happiest. Great wealth tends to excessive and morbid refinement 
and indulgence — it tempts to avarice, idleness, profligacy, and 
licentiousness. The palmy days of Rome, of Tyre, of Babylon, 
were their days of enterprise and relative poverty. When they 
compelled the world to pour its riches into their bosoms, they sunk 
into the dead and putrid sea of effeminate and animalized luxury. 

3. National happiness does not consist in great military and na- 
val strength. True, we need the power to defend our rights and 
interests, but beyond this, our indefinite preparation of the instru- 
ments of death, only tempts to national bravado, to the lust of 
power and conquest, to oppression and legalized murder. 

We have seen what are not essentials to national happiness and 
prosperity. We are now prepared positively to state what are 



358 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

such essentials. And here allow me to make the very obvious re- 
mark, that a nation is not an abstraction, in distinction from the in- 
dividuals of which it is composed. That is a happy nation, in 
which there is the greatest amount of personal, social, family, and 
neighbourhood felicity. It is obvious then, that those causes which 
minister to the greatest good of individuals, are the real essentials 
of national prosperity. The moral, social, and pecuniary degra- 
dation of the individuals of a nation, is the degradation of the na- 
tion itself, no matter what may be the form of its government, or 
the loftiness of its pretensions. Keeping this principle in mind, I 
remark, I. That the first essential to national happiness is cicil 
and religious freedom. God has made man a free moral agent, and 
designed him to act for himself, under the influence of self-love and 
religious duty. 

There is nothing which human nature more covets than liberty. 
Take away from a man the consciousness of freedom and the right 
of self-government — assume that he is born to be the slave of the 
interest, ease, and pleasure, of kings or petty tyrants, and he feels 
degraded below the level of his race. The world becomes to him 
a prison — large, indeed, but sombre and hateful. The slave of 
despots may go to his task, but those cheering anticipations of 
benefit to himself and family, which lighten the burdens of labour, 
he can never know. The slave may eat, and drink, and dance in 
his chains, but his enjoyments are animalized, like those of the 
brute, to whose condition he is degraded. 

Give a man liberty, and he covets knowledge. Occupying his 
natural and Heaven-appointed condition of liberty, he loves light 
because it reveals his blessings and aids his aspirings, like the soar- 
ing bird that rises and floats in the airy element which God has 
made its own. On the other hand, enslave a man, and he covets 
ignorance, like the mariner who closes his eyes against the vision 
of deadly rocks that he cannot shun. Where have new discoveries 
in science and new inventions in the arts originated I Almost al- 
ways among the free, who expected to reap the results of their 
genius. Slavery is a most bitter curse, because it leaves man with 
his wants, his woes, and his labours, but takes away the motives 
designed to soften the burdens of human life. In this land we are 
blessed with liberty, and it deserves all the eulogies which 4th of 
July orators have poured upon it. I have only to regret that our 
songs of joy, even in this land of freedom, are interrupted by the 
clanking chains of two millions of slaves. May God open the 
way for their final and safe emancipation. 

II. — A second requisite to national happiness is individual in- 
dustry in some tiseful occupation. The wealth of a nation is made 
up of the earnings of individuals. If any individual, by industry 
and carefulness in business, accumulate beyond his own necessities, 






brainerd's discourse. 359 

present and prospective, he is to remember that the decrepid, the 
sick, the imbecile and aged poor, the helpless widow, the friendless 
orphan, are to be sustained by the savings of the young, the health- 
ful, and the enterprising — so that no man has an apology for idle- 
ness. An idle man usually sinks to a vagrant. An idle family, 
whatever may be its present wealth, is on a rapid pilgrimage to 
vice, crime, beggary, and contempt. 

A nation, relinquishing industry and slow gains to embark in 
grasping speculation, presents a spectacle about as amiable, happy, 
and hopeful, as the gambling fraternities in our low grog-shops. 

Every man, young or old, who spends time in idleness, would 
do well to remember that he is a missionary of moral corruption 
and universal beggary — that if his example were imitated, we 
should have no country — or if we retained an empire, it would be 
a continent of darkness, pollution, and vice. The Pharisee "thanked 
God he was not. like other men." Our idler, rich or poor, fashion- 
able or unfashionable, may reverse this, and thank God that others 
are not like him. 

He who covets food, shelter, and life's luxuries, without the in- 
dustry to labour, or the self-denial to save, has begun an apprentice- 
ship to fraud and theft. When a nation is made up of such, it is 
unfit for liberty, and may covet the advent of an energetic despot 
as a boon from God. 

III. — A third essential to national prosperity and happiness is 
temperance. How wide-spread has been the prevalence of intem- 
perance in our land ! It has absorbed more money than all the 
expense of our Revolution — all the outlay of our second war with 
Great Britain. It has absorbed more money than all our academies, 
colleges — all our Bible and Missionary Associations — all our hos- 
pitals and asylums. It has wrung this money from aged parents to 
gratify the appetite of profligate sons, and from the worn, weary, 
heart-sick wife, and starving children, to gratify the diseased 
craving of a debased husband and father. This money has gone to 
fill the pockets of men who added nothing to the common stock of 
national wealth by their employment, but who first plucked their 
victims and then kicked them into the street. And have we lost 
nothing but money by this vice? The pilot has quaffed the 
cup, and in the madness of intoxication, run his vessel at a great 
waste of life upon the deadly rock. From ships and steamboats, 
from stages and railroad cars, from a thousand parts of our land, the 
shriek of fesr and woe has come, because those intrusted with the 
safety of life had perpetrated reckless murder by sacrificing myriads 
to their own love of the cup. 

And is the moral ruin of the victims of intemperance nothing'? 
Who of us have not blushed at the degradation of some relative? 



o* 



360 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Who of us have not visited the prematura, sad grave, of some re- 
lative, the victim of intemperance? 

Now we must not, on the 4th of July, throw up our hats and 
shout that our fathers saved us from "a three-cent tax on tea," 
while we are coldly indifferent to the more cruel slavery which 
has ground to the dust hundreds of thousands of our citizens. 

What tyrant on a throne ever wrung from a living victim his 
health, his reason, his good affections, his self-respect, his reputation, 
his property, his industry, and his undying soul ? 

Nero was merciful compared to this. Thank God ! eighty 
thousand of these victims have broken the yoke of the tyrant, 
and stand erect in the dignity of human nature, under the rainbow 
of hope. 

But we must watch this cause. Our tongues will falter in their 
rejoicing over libtjrty till we see our country safe from intemperance. 
And we even shall distrust all pretensions to patriotism or philan- 
thropy, which coldly regard the effort to make our country happy 
by making its citizens sober. 

IV. — Another element of national happiness is a spirit of peace 
and order. We know how odious and how painful is the spirit of 
strife, contention, hatred, and violence, in a family or neighbour- 
hood. We know how malice embitters the enjoyment of an in- 
dividual by gnawing the heart that cherishes it. Hence we know 
that a nation, under the influence of a spirit of war and violence, 
is not only guilty, but miserable — not only robbed of communion 
with God, but hindered from the exercise of those sweet charities 
of the heart, which ennoble and bless a human soul. The spirit 
of war may for a time find its victims in foreign lands, but it 
nourishes a tiger thirst for human blood, which, sooner or later, 
leads to the carnage of civil war, when citizen butchers citizen. 
We ask that our political and religious opinions shall be treated 
with respect and toleration — we ask for the liberty to worship God. 
not only without fear of violence, but without opprobrium. We 
ask that our houses shall be safe from fear, so that our wives and 
children may rejoice around the domestic hearth and altar. Wc 
desire that all should cherish towards us sentiments of kindness anc 
good-will. We must remember that we are no better than our ract 
— that other men, and other families, and other nations, have the 
same desire and capacity for safety and enjoyment. If we ask fo: 
blessings at the hands of others, we should be as willing; to grant a. 
to take. To hate and injure others, of whatever nation or creed 
is to break down those barriers which protect us and ours fron 
violence and death. The rio;ht of self-defence we all admit. Th 
duty to be prepared to resist wrong inflicted by another nation, ma' 
be as imperative as our duty to resist the midnight assassin. Still, 
contend that the best protection of a nation against insult and in 






01; 

lisi 

K. 

1 



brainerd's discourse. 361 

jury, is the spirit of justice and peace. Who are the men that 
pass through life with universal respect and kindness? The peace- 
1'ul and the just. Who is the man that is complaining of insults at 
home and abroad — of insults at parties — in railroad cars, in steam- 
boats, and everywhere else? It is the man who is over jealous of 
his dignity — the man whose disposition to encroach on others dis- 
poses others to encroach on him — the man whose ready appeal to 
personal violence tempts others to inflict violence on him. 

He who should refuse to give way to others in Chestnut street, 
would soon raise a mob. Jostling others, he would provoke the 
same spirit to jostle him, until he would be borne down by numbers. 
Let him courteously yield to others, and others will cheerfully give 
way for him. Men mirror back the temper we present. 

In the south-west all are armed, expecting insults, and they soon 
find them. Here, we assume that others are disposed to respect our 
rights, and they seldom disappoint us. The empire of Rome, in 
the spirit of aggression, stretched her armies to the cold north, and 
stirred up the power that stung her to death. Napoleon nourished 
the spirit of war in France, until fear and hate brought at last a 
power from without to crush his empire. Great Britain is holding 
the world in fear. May she take warn?qg by the fate of her rival ! 
We are so insulated, that a peaceful spirit is safe as well as 
beautiful. If we teach our growing millions to love war, we shall 
rue it at last. " They that take the sword shall perish by the 
sword." 

We want not tens of thousands of our young men to be cor- 
rupted by the camp ; we want not the waste of millions of our 
own in efforts to waste the life and property of others ; we want no 
flaming cities ; no vessels exploded and sinking, amid the cries of 
dying sailors; we want no wail of widows and orphans over hus- 
bands and fathers prematurely slain ; we want no interrupted in- 
dustry, ruined commerce, and down-trodden harvests ; we want no 
battle-fields shrieking with the wounded and slippery with gore ; 
we want no war. 

V. A fifth element of national prosperity and happiness, is the 
universal prevalence of intellectual, moral, and religious cultiva- 
tion. Let intellectual light be diffused, that the millions of our 
land may know their rights and their duties, social and religious. 
Let the truth of God be diffused to furnish those millions with the 
disposition and the motives to do their duty. The grand office of 
leading minds in 1776, was to rouse the mass of this nation to re- 
sist a foreign foe. They succeeded. Sixty-nine years of national 
existence and enlargement have raised us to an elevation above the 
fear of foreign enemies. 

We have wrested the sceptre of government from a foreign des- 
pot, and reposed it where it ought to be, in the hands of the ma- 
31 



362 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

jority of this nation. Our destiny is no longer in the power of 
one man, but millions. If one man governed us, we should ask, 
with awful emphasis, what is his character? If millions govern 
us, we may, with equal emphasis, ask what is, and is to be, the 
character of those millions? Are they educated? Are they mo- 
ral ? Are they patriotic ? Do they fear God and respect the great 
principles of righteousness? Who does not see the pertinence of 
these questions? Who that loves his country does not feel their 
importance? It is obvious, that while the grand mission of the 
Revolution was to battle down foreign domination, by fanning the 
spirit of martial feeling and resistance to tyranny, our great office, 
in the sixty-ninth year of independence, is, through the spirit of 
peace and universally diffused light, to educate into right principles 
and right action, the millions who hold here the sceptre of power. 

The Revolution demanded the cultivation of the stronger pas- 
sions — the nourishing of a sense of wrong, and the martial spirit 
to resist wrong. Now we need the passions to be soothed, lest they 
break out in violence on ourselves. Now we need to cultivate the 
intellect, the conscience, and the heart, that men may "lead quiet 
and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty." 

The patriotism of the Revolution found its highest developement 
in hazarding life and property to defend the country. The high 
office of the distinguished patriot now is fulfilled, by the exhibi- 
tion of an example of industry, temperance, self-control, of warm 
domestic affection-s, and love of public order in subjection to the 
laws of God and man — and of large and willing charities to diffuse 
that moral education, which shall elevate this entire nation to the 
practice of the same virtues. 

The Revolution demanded agitation and excitement. We then 
asked for great changes. We have now gained our freedom and 
the means to defend it. Our true interest can now best be secured 
by tranquillity and repose. We then had everything to gain by 
excitement and revolution. Now we have everything to lose. 

A very remote predecessor in this pulpit, the Reverend Doctor 
Duffield, was associated with Bishop White as chaplain to the Con- 
tinental Congress. He was also for a time chaplain in the Conti- 
nental army. He made these old walls resound seventy years ago, 
with exhortations to the male members of this congregation to take 
up arms for their country. On a Sabbath morning, when the Bri- 
tish were approaching, he told them he was " sorry to see so many 
yet at home." 

It is now my duty, after seventy years, to exhort you to make 
similar great and patriotic sacrifices, to plant schools, academies, 
colleges, and churches, in ever}' destitute neighbourhood, and to 
give your personal example and labours to the great work of edu- 
cating the youthful generation, that the}-, by their virtues, may be 



DISCOURSE. 363 

worthy to hold the inestimable blessing purchased by the blood of 
their fathers. 

Doctor Duffield here prayed for the success of our arms in war. 
It is your duty and mine now to pray for the spirit of peace to be 
breathed over this great nation, that the arts of peace may beautify 
and enrich our domain from the sands of the Atlantic to the mild 
waves of the Pacific Ocean. 

I must say here, although somewhat out of place, that our late 
President Jackson was always the warm friend and frequent patron 
of religious education. When the Reverend Samuel J. Mills was 
on a missionary tour to the West, his horse died, near Nashville. 
A great loss for a poor missionary ! He was the guest of General 
Jackson, who promptly gave him another and better horse, as a 
mark of friendship to the cause. 

A clergyman, now in New York city, of the highest standing, 
told me, a few days since, that when he was on a tour in Tennes- 
see, twenty-five years ago or more, to obtain pecuniary means to 
build up the Presbyterian Theological Seminarv at Maryville, 
General Jackson was his best auxiliary. He gave him one hundred 
dollars most cheerfully, and volunteered a letter to all his friends 
in the South and West, urging the building up of such seminaries, 
as indispensable to the well-being of the country. Such testimo- 
ny on such a point is valuable. 

The grand instrument of national salvation in the Revolution was 
the army, brave to defend their homes and their country. Trie 
grand instrument of saving this land now from idleness, intempe- 
rance, fraud and violence, and ultimate despotism, is the church of 
God embraced in the various religious denominations. Her prayers 
are to propitiate Heaven's anger. Her active benevolence in good 
works, in promoting education and true religion, is to be the foun- 
dation of our national morality and prosperity. The moral virtues 
of no nation rise above its religion. When the army of the Revo- 
lution faltered in courage and self-sacrifice, the genius of our na- 
tion grew pale with fear and wept in sadness. When the church 
of God in this land becomes self-indulgent, proud, sectarian, and 
temporizing, forgetful of her high office, as Heaven's almoner of 
light and purity, angels in Heaven might weep over a presage of 
national abandonment and sin. You will remember that in the 
most perplexing period of General Jackson's administration, when 
clouds lowered over the whole political horizon, he was daunted 
by none of these things, but said " his greatest trouble was the ?chis7/i 
in his favourite denomination — the Presbyterian church." Parti- 
sans jeered him for this, accused him of hypocrisy ; but is there 
any reason to doubt that his sagacious intellect saw that what im- 
paired the influence of Christianity struck a blow at national mo- 
rality and safety ? 



364 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

Patriotism and piety might now mourn over the religious apathy, 
not of a single denomination, but of this entire land. As the prac- 
tice and enjoyment of religion is absolutely indispensable to the 
true happiness of each individual of the nation, that cannot be 
called a truly prosperous nation which is not increasing in the fa- 
vour of God. 

I propose now to advert to some lessons taught to this nation by 
the life and death of one of the most prominent of our citizens. 
As the death of any man under God's providence is a fair subject 
for pulpit discussion — as the president of these United States has 
officially called the attention of the nation to the decease of his 
distinguished predecessor — and as the individual himself bore a re- 
markable character both in life and death, I make no apology for 
introducing the name of Andrew Jackson on this occasion. As I 
shall express my honest convictions, with a desire to give no offence 
to any human being, by invading the political prejudices of any, I 
hope for your candid attention. With political creeds I have no 
concern here, but as the name of Andrew Jackson has an influ- 
ence with millions, it is desirable to see how far it prompts to truth 
and virtue. 

Andrew Jackson began life amid the storms of the Revolution, 
when the war spirit was most rife in the land. He spent his whole 
life in a section of country where not to resent injury is to lose 
caste in society. He was a soldier for his country, and thus forced 
by duty into scenes of bloodshed. He was a man not only of sin- 
gular sagacity, but of strong and quick passions — full of the chi- 
valry of the military profession. He was not a professed Christian 
until he had retired from public life. Taking all these circum- 
stances into account, it is not wonderful that there should have al- 
ways been in his character an irritability under opposition, and an 
occasional violence of language and manner, which we, trained 
among calmer scenes, and under a more steady and consistent 
Christian influence, must condemn. But an orphan at fourteen 
years of age, first a soldier in the Revolutionary army — then a pri- 
soner in the British camp — then an emigrant at twenty-one, to so- 
journ in the western wilderness among treacherous savages and 
lawless associates, had few opportunities to study the doctrine of 
Christian meekness and forbearance. 

T was told by a distinguished gentleman of Tennessee, then an 
elder it) the Presbyterian church, that in early times, when a howl- 
ing wilderness of one hundred and fifty miles in extent, filled with 
savages, separated Nashville settlement, then in North Carolina, 
from Lexington settlement, then in Western Virginia, they were 
accustomed to form caravans for mutual safety in threading this 
wilderness. One of these caravans, made up mostly of young men, 
among whom was Jackson, started from Nashville for Lexington, 



brainerd's discourse. 365 

having a woman in charge going to join her husband in Lexington. 
The ladv was taken sick the second night. In the morning several 
of the young men arose, saddled their horses, and were about to 
leave, when young Jackson asked what they were about to do? 
Would they leave a woman to perish alone In the wilderness ? 
They were impatient, reckless, afraid perhaps of Indians on their 
track. They said they must go on. Jackson levelled his rifle and 
declared he would kill the first man that put his foot in the stirrup ; 
thus he brought them to a stand. They agreed to wait a day — the 
lady was then able to travel, and they reached Lexington in safety. 
This shows the kind of associates around young Jackson, and the 
kind of bearing which he came to regard as chivalrous and neces- 
sary. 

We must judge such a man by his circumstances, not by ours; 
and tried by this standard, I think, what Walter Scott said of a co- 
venanter was true of Andrew Jackson : "His faults were those of 
his times and associates; his virtues were eminently his own." I 
may here in candour say that some of the leading measures of his 
civil administration I did not approve. The removal of the Che- 
rokee Indians from their homes I resisted with my pen, and have 
often denounced it in this congregation. But I then believed, and 
I now believe, that no president since the days of Washington ever 
carried to the presidential chair a more patriotic and honest heart. 

Whether a measure were popular or unpopular — whether his 
friends approved or opposed — if he thought it right, he urged it 
without regard to personal consequences. 

If a measure were too unpopular to be touched by his friends, he 
threw himself into the breach and shouldered the responsibility. 
This course, so far above the truckling, time-serving course of mere 
selfish and heartless demagogues of all parties, took the nation by 
surprise. The nature of his measures, and the energy of his will, 
excited, in many, fear, but all felt the power of this moral courage 
— of this abandonment of self; and many, while they dreaded the 
effect of the measures, felt an increased admiration of the sincerity 
of the man. 

This conviction of the sincerity of General Jackson, of his will- 
ingness to do what he believed the good of the country demanded, 
without respect to friend or foe, was one element of his great 
popularity. Mankind love a sincere and resolute character, and I 
hope politicians will learn from the example of General Jackson 
that '• honesty is the best policy;" while perhaps he himself would 
have been more wise had he sometimes lent a more open ear to the 
counsels of his judicious friends. 

The sanction which the early example and the great name of 
General Jackson gave to duelling we must all deplore. 

But we must remember that in office he struck at once from the 
31* 



366 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

rolls of the navy the names of two officers who had engaged in a 
duel, showing that his riper judgment disapproved the violence of 
his youth. In the early part of his last sickness he said, "May 
my e/tcmies find j)cace" — " may the liberty of my country endure 
for ever." This was the spirit in which he died, the spirit which 
I hope all his friends will cultivate. 

General Jackson's defects were as open as his virtues. He con- 
cealed nothing, and the eyes of millions watched his errors. I will 
palliate none. 

But among: his defects known to this nation, has he ever shrunk 

-IT* T T 

at an_y sacrifice to discharge every pecuniary obligation 1 He once 
exchanged a delightful villa for a home in the wilderness, to pay 
the debts assumed for a friend. Has he ever sought wealth by 
gambling, fraud, or overreaching in trade, or by speculating in 
office ? Has he ever been accused of seducing innocence from the 
paths of virtue, or rioting in low debauchery ? Has he ever shrunk 
in bearing his testimony to the value of temperance and religion ? 
Has he ever neglected the poor to flatter the rich ? Has he ever 
refused a well-authenticated claim on his charity, whether from 
friend or foe, whether for an object secular or religious 1 Has he 
ever forgotten a friend in adversity, or received at the hands of any 
one an obligation which he did not endeavour to discharge ? Has 
he ever forborne to bear his testimony to the truth and value of the 
Christian religion, or absented himself on the Sabbath from the 
worship of Almighty God ? Has he ever failed to treat with kind- 
ness ministers of the gospel — to open his house and his purse to 
such as were in poverty and want? Has he not, again and again, 
sacrificed ease, and home, and money, and put in peril reputation 
and life, to defend his country ? 

If, with so many claims to national respect and gratitude, it be 
still true that the prompt decision, powerful will, and ardent temper, 
which made him one of the greatest military commanders of this 
or any age, sometimes tempted him to precipitation, violence, and 
obstinacy, it only shows that he was a man, and, like other men, 
liable to err. 

We cannot have the strength of the wind to swell our sails with- 
out a liability to tempests — nor the warmth of fire without danger 
of conflagrations. So, neither can we find in man great abilities 
and energy for good, without corresponding infelicities. To this 
our great Washington alone seems to have been an exception. It 
is enoug;h to excite our best feelinsrs in view of the death of Jack- 
son, if we can all say — as I believe we can — that in spite of the 
defects, moral or political, imputed to him, he had a lofty patriotism 
— a large, honest, and brave heart, and the ends " he aimed at were 
his country's!" 



brainerd's discourse. 367 

It was not till the storms of his public life were over, that he 
gave his attention practically to religion. The influence of a pious 
mother left always on his mind a firm faith in Christianity, and a 
profound reverence for its doctrines and institutions ; but, like too 
many others, he procrastinated the great duty of "repentance 
towards God, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." 

When in Cincinnati fifteen years ago, a beautiful young lady 
asked him to write in her album. He wrote — 

" When I can read my title clear 
To mansions in the skies, 
I'll bid farewell to every pear, 
And wipe my weeping eyes. 

Andrew Jacksox." 

Politicians saw in this cant, pretence, or imbecility. Those that 
knew General Jackson's early life, saw in it the principles of piety 
planted by a departed mother, and struggling in a masculine in- 
tellect and conscience with the excitements and temptations of the 
world. 

While at Washington, President Jackson has often sent for 
clergymen visiting the city, to conduct prayer in his family. This 
showed his respect for religion at that period, and renders his sub- 
sequent conversion less wonderful. About seven years ago, he 
united with the Presbyterian church in Nashville, of which the 
Reverend Doctor Edgar is pastor. 

Doctor Edgar, at his grave, gave a touching account of his con- 
version to God, and bore testimony that in the church he had de- 
veloped a consistent Christian character. Convinced of his duty 
to serve God by a public profession, he stood up before the world 
as a disciple of Christ. We only regret, as he doubtless regretted, 
that he had not thus consecrated himself early in life. 

I. — His death, though in the course of nature, teaches us first, how 
rain is all earthly good. General Jackson had all the world could 
give him of office and honour. He lived almost fourscore years ; 
but " all the world gave it has taken away." His ear is deaf to 
human applause. He moulders like the beggar in his shroud. The 
strong arm is palsied — the stout heart is still — the voice which has 
moved armies and agitated a continent, is silent. What a lesson 
does this read to earthly ambition — how humbling to human pride ! 

The deceased took this humbling view of death, when he refused 
to have his remains laid in a sarcophagus which three thousand years 
had spared, and the partiality of friends had presented. " Let me 
be buried," said he, " in the earth — by the remains of my beloved 
companion. I wish to be buried in a plain, unostentatious manner, 
without any pomp." 

His epitaph, fixed upon by himself, is : 



368 MONUMENT TO JACKSON. 

"ANDREW JACKSON, 

BORN 15tll OF MARCH, 1767, 
DIED 8th OF JUNE, 1845." 

He would not mock the humiliation of the grave, hy attempting 
to garnish it with earthly splendour. He would let death utter its 
scornful and unbroken rebuke of human pride, avarice, and ambition. 

II. — The death scene of General Jackson, shows our need of 
teligion. The light which cheered his pilgrimage through the 
dark valley was no reflected glory from splendid victories and lofty 
political stations. The huzzas of millions made no music for his 
dying ear. If he found peace then, and he did find it, it was in 
the evidence that God had forgiven his sins and renewed his heart. 
It will be so with us. We toil and strive for the world, but in 
dying, all the treasure that will avail us will be the hope of God's 
favour and eternal life. 

III. — The death scene of General Jackson discloses a motive 
to begin early to serve God and ovr generation. On the Sabbath, 
two weeks before he died, the Lord's supper was administered in 
the Presbyterian church near his residence. Unable to go out, he 
desired " once more" to receive the sacrament inhis chamber. At 
the close, he said, " When I have suffered sufficiently the Lord will 
take me to himself, but what are my sufferings compared to my 
Saviour, who died for me on the accursed tree." 

On the Sabbath, the day he died, he first fainted and was supposed 
to be dead ; but revived. He called all his little grandchildren and 
the members of his family — took each of his grandchildren by the 
hand, and blessed and kissed them all. He told them they had 
good parents — to keep the Sabbath and read the Testament. 
" Where," he says, " is my daughter Mary 1 God will take care 
of you for me. I am my God's. I belong to him. I go but a 
short time before you." His grandchildren began to cry. " What 
is the matter, my dear children ? Have I alarmed you ? 0, do not 
cry — be good children, and we shall meet in Heaven." Turning to 
the servants, he said — " I want to meet you all, white and black, 
in heaven." Having exhorted them in an eloquent strain for half 
an hour, he sunk away and calmly expired. 

What an affecting and sublime spectacle! The aged soldier and 
statesman, the idol of half the nation, is slowly expiring. He has but 
a few hours to live, he is all weakness and pain, but he rouses himself 
from the gathering torpor of death, and for half an hour gives elo- 
quent counsel to all " to prepare to meet God." If children, and 
youth, and servants, needed such counsel from his lips, they need 
it from ours. If conscience will not let us die in peace without 



brainerd's discourse. 369 

discharging our duty in this respect, let us begin early, and in our 
days of health beseech all around us to be reconciled to God. 

General Jackson would take the sacrament in his sick chamber. 
He asked it as a privilege. Who in health then, are justified in 
neglecting this ordinance as it is administered before them in the 
sanctuary ? Let us learn the viriues of a death-bed while we have 
health to exercise those virtues in acts of piety. 

I thank God that he led General Jackson in the face of this na- 
tion to honour, in his last years and hours, the Bible — the Sabbath, 
the church and its sacraments — and the great doctrine of salvation 
alone through the atonement of Calvary. We hope those who 
loved him will hasten to follow this his final example. 

He was always a brave man, but he achieved his greatest triumph, 
when he humbled his pride at the foot of the cross, and gained a 
hope which gave him victory over death. 

His civil and military renown may fade amid the mists of coming 
ages; but God grant that his noble and impressive testimony to the 
truth and value of the Christian religion, may live in the hearts of 
men until the pillars of this great globe shall crumble, and time 
itself be no more. Amen. 



APPENDIX. 



PROCLAMATION 

COMMUNICATED DECEMBER 10, 183 2, 



BY 



ANDREW JACKSON, 

PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES. 



Whereas a convention assembled in the state of South Carolina 
have passed an Ordinance, by which they declare " That the several 
acts and parts of acts of the Congress of the United States, pur- 
porting to be laws for the imposing of duties and imposts on the 
importation of foreign commodities, and now having actual opera- 
tion and effect within the United States, and more especially" two 
acts, for the same purposes, passed on the 29th of May, 1828, and 
on the 14-th of July, 1832, "are unauthorized by the constitution 
of the United States, and violate the true meaning and intent there- 
of, and are null and void, and no law," nor binding on the citizens 
of that state or its officers; and by the said Ordinance it is further 
declared to be unlawful for any of the constituted authorities of the 
state or of the United States, to enforce the payment of the duties 
imposed by the said acts within the same state, and that it is the 
duty of the legislature to pass such laws as may be necessary to 
give full effect to the said Ordinance : 

And whereas, by the said Ordinance, it is further ordained, that, 
in no case of law or equity, decided in the courts of said state, 
wherein shall be drawn in question the validity of the said Ordi- 
nance, or of the acts of the legislature that may be passed to give 
it effect, or of the said laws of the United States, appeal shall be 
allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, nor shall any 
copy of the record be permitted or allowed for that purpose : and 
that any person attempting to take such an appeal shall be punished 

as for a contempt of court : 

(371) 



372 appendix. 

And, finally, the said Ordinance declares that the people of 
South Carolina will maintain the said Ordinance at every hazard ; 
and that they will consider the passage of any act by Congress, 
abolishing or closing the ports of the said state, or otherwise ob- 
structing the free ingress or egress of vessels to and from the said 
ports, or any other act of the federal government to coerce the 
state, shut up her ports, destroy or harass her commerce, or to en- 
force the said acts otherwise than through the civil tribunals of the 
country, as inconsistent with the longer continuance of South Ca- 
rolina in the Union ; and that the people of the said state will 
thenceforth hold themselves absolved from all further obligation to 
maintain or preserve their political connexion with the people of 
the other states, and will forthwith proceed to organize a separate 
government, and do all other acts and things which sovereign and 
independent states may of right do : 

And whereas the said Ordinance prescribes to the people of 
South Carolina a course of conduct, in direct violation of their 
duty as citizens of the United States, contrary to the laws of their 
country, subversive of its constitution, and having for its object 
the destruction of the Union — that Union, which, coeval with our 
political existence, led our fathers, without any other ties to unite 
them than those of patriotism and a common cause, through a san- 
guinary struggle to a glorious independence — that sacred Union, 
hitherto inviolate, which, perfected by our happy constitution, has 
brought us, by the favour of Heaven, to a state of prosperity at 
home, and high consideration abroad, rarely, if ever, equalled in 
the history of nations: To preserve this bond of our political ex- 
istence from destruction, to maintain inviolate this state of national 
honour and prosperity, and to justify the confidence my fellow- 
citizens have reposed in me, I, Andrew Jackson, President of 
the United States, have thought proper to issue this my proclama- 
tion, stating my views of the constitution and laws applicable to 
the measures adopted by the convention of South Carolina, and to 
the reasons they have put forth to sustain them, declaring the 
course which duty will require me to pursue, and, appealing to the 
understanding and patriotism of the people, warn them of the con- 
sequences that must inevitably result from an observance of the 
dictates of the convention. 

Strict duty would require of me nothing more than the exercise 
of those powers with which I am now, or may hereafter be invest- 
ed, for preserving the peace of the Union, and for the execution 
of the laws. But the imposing aspect which opposition has as- 
sumed in this case, by clothing itself with state authority, and the 
deep interest which the people of the United States must all feel 
in preventing a resort to stronger measures, while there is a hope 
that anything will be yielded to reasoning and remonstrance, per- 



Jackson's proclamation. 373 

haps demand, and will certainly justify, a full exposition to South 
Carolina and the nation of the views I entertain of this important 
question, as well as a distinct enunciation of the course which my 
sense of duty will require me to pursue. 

The Ordinance is founded, not on the indefeasible ri°-ht of re- 
sisting acts which are plainly unconstitutional and too oppressive 
to be endured, but on the strange position that any one state may 
not only declare an act of Congress void, but prohibit its execution 
— that they may do this consistently with the constitution — that 
the true construction of that instrument permits a state to retain its 
place in the Union, and yet be bound by no other of its laws than 
those it may choose to consider as constitutional. It is true, they 
add, that, to justify this abrogation of a law, it must be palpably 
contrary to the constitution ; but it is evident, that to give the right 
of resisting laws of that description, coupled with the uncontrolled 
right to decide what laws deserve that character, is to give the 
power of resisting all laws. For, as by the theory there is no ap- 
peal, the reasons alleged by the state, good or bad, must prevail. 
If it should be said that public opinion is a sufficient check against 
the abuse of this power, it may be asked why it is not deemed a 
sufficient guard against the passage of an unconstitutional act by 
Congress. There is, however, a restraint in this last case, which 
makes the assumed power of a state more indefensible, and which 
does not exist in the other. There are two appeals from an uncon- 
stitutional act passed by Congress — one to the judiciary, the other 
to the people and the states. There is no appeal from the state 
decision in theory ; and the practical illustration shows that the 
courts are closed against an application to review it, both judges 
and jurors being sworn to decide in its favour. - But reasoning on 
this subject is superfluous when our social compact in express terms 
declares, that the laws of the United States, its constitution, and 
treaties made under it, are the supreme law of the land ; and, for 
greater caution, adds, "that the judges in every state shall be bound 
thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the 
contrary notwithstanding." And it may be asserted, without fear 
of refutation, that, no federative government could exist without a 
similar provision. Look for a moment to the consequence. If 
South Carolina considers the revenue laws unconstitutional, and has 
a right to prevent their execution in the port of Charleston, there 
would be a clear, constitutional objection to their collection in 
every other port, and no revenue could be collected anywhere ; 
for all imposts must be equal. It is no answer to repeat that an 
unconstitutional law is no law, so long as the question of legality 
is to be decided by the state itself: for every law operating in- 
juriously upon any local interest will be perhaps thought, and cer- 



374 APPENDIX. 

tainly represented, as unconstitutional, and, as has been shown, 
there is no appeal. 

If this doctrine had been established at an earlier day, the Union 
would have been dissolved in its infancy. The excise law in 
Pennsylvania, the embargo and non-intercourse law in the eastern 
states, the carriage tax in Virginia, were all deemed unconstitu- 
tional, and were more unequal in their operation than any of the 
laws now complained of; but, fortunately, none of those states dis- 
covered that they had the right now claimed by South Carolina. 
The war into which we were forced, to support the dignity of the 
nation and the rights of our citizens, might have ended in defeat 
and disgrace, instead of victory and honour, if the states who sup- 
posed it a ruinous and unconstitutional measure, had thought they 
possessed the right of nullifying the act by which it was declared, 
and denying supplies for its prosecution. Hardly and unequally as 
those measures bore upon the several members of the Union, to the 
legislatures of none did this efficient and peaceable remedy, as it is 
called, suggest itself. The discovery of this important feature in 
our constitution was reserved to the present day. To the statesmen 
of South Carolina belongs the invention, and upon the citizens of 
that state will unfortunately fall the evils of reducing it to practice. 

If the doctrine of a state veto upon the laws of the Union car- 
ries with it internal evidence of its impracticable absurdity, our 
constitutional history will also afford abundant proof that it would 
have been repudiated with indignation, had it been proposed to 
form a feature in our government. 

In our colonial state, although dependent on another power, we 
very early considered ourselves as connected by common interest 
with each other. Leagues were formed for common defence, and 
before the declaration of independence, we were known in our ag- 
gregate character as the United Colonies of America. That de- 
cisive and important step was taken jointly. We declared ourselves 
a nation by a joint, not by several acts; and when the terms of our 
confederation were reduced to form, it was in that of a solemn league 
of several states, by which they agreed that they would, collec- 
tively, form one nation for the purpose of conducting some certain 
domestic concerns, and all foreign relations. In the instrument 
forming that Union, is found an article which declares that " every 
state shall abide by the determinations of Congress on all questions 
which by that confederation should be submitted to them." 

Under the confederation, then, no state could legally annul a 
decision of Congress, or refuse to submit to its execution ; but no 
provision was made to enforce these decisions. Congress made re- 
quisitions, but they were not complied with. The government 
could not operate on individuals. They had no judiciary, no means 
of collecting revenue. 



Jackson's proclamation. 375 

But the defects of the confederation need not be detailed. Under 
its operation, we could scarcely be called a nation. We had neither 
prosperity at home nor consideration abroad. This state of things 
could not be endured, and our present happy constitution was 
formed ; but formed in vain, if this fatal doctrine prevails. It was 
formed for important objects that are announced in the preamble 
made in the name and by the authority of the people of the United 
States, whose delegates framed, and whose conventions approved it. 
The most important among these objects, that which is placed first 
in rank, on which all the others rest, is "to form a more perfect 
union." Now, is it possible that, even if there were no express 
provision giving supremacy to the constitution and laws of the 
United States over those of the states, it can be conceived, that an 
instrument made for the purpose of " forming a more perfect 
union" than that of the confederation, could be so constructed bv 
the assembled wisdom of our country, as to substitute for that con- 
federation a form of government dependent for its existence on the 
local interest, the party spirit of a state, or of a prevailing faction 
in a state? Every man of plain unsophisticated understanding, 
who hears the question, will give such an answer as will preserve 
the Union. Metaphysical subtlety, in pursuit of an impracticable 
theory, could alone have devised one that is calculated to de- 
stroy it. 

I consider, then, the power to annul a law of the United States, 
assumed by one state, incompatible with the existence of the Union, 
contradicted expressly by the letter of the constitution, unauthorized 
by its spirit, inconsistent with every principle on which it was 
founded, and destructive of the great object for which it was 
formed. 

After this general view of the leading principle, we must ex- 
amine the particular application of it which is made in the Ordi- 
nance. 

The preamble rests its justification on these grounds: It assumes 
as a fact, that the obnoxious laws, although they purport to be laws 
for raising revenue, were, in reality, intended for the protection of 
manufacturers, which purpose it asserts to be unconstitutional — that 
the operation of these laws is unequal — that the amount raised by 
them is greater than is required by the wants of the government — 
and, finally, that the proceeds are to be applied to objects unautho- 
rized by the constitution. These are the only causes alleged to justify 
an open opposition to the laws of the country, and a threat of 
seceding from the Union, if any attempt should be made to enforce 
them. The first virtually acknowledges, that the law in question 
was passed under a power expressly given by the constitution, to 
lay and collect imposts ;. but its constitutionality is drawn in question 
from the motives of those who passed it. However apparent this 



376 ArrENDix. 

purpose may be in the present case, nothing can be more dangerous 
than to admit the position, that an unconstitutional purpose, enter- 
tained by the members who assent to a law enacted under a constitu- 
tional power, shall make that law void ; for how is that purpose to 
be ascertained? Who is to make the scrutiny'? How often may 
bad purposes be falsely imputed ? in how many cases are they con- 
cealed by false professions? in how many is no declaration of 
motive made? Admit this doctrine, and you give to the states an 
uncontrolled right to decide, and every law may be annulled under 
this pretext. If, therefore, the absurd and dangerous doctrine 
should be admitted that a state may annul an unconstitutional law, 
or one that it deems such, it will not apply to the present case. 

The next objection is, that the laws in question operate unequally. 
This objection may be made with truth, to every law that has been 
or can be passed. The wisdom of man never yet contrived a sys- 
tem of taxation, that would operate with perfect equality, If tfec 
unequal operation of a law makes it unconstitutional, and if all laws 
of that description may be abrogated by any state for that cause, 
then indeed is the federal constitution unworthy of the slightest 
effort for its preservation. We have hitherto relied on it as the 
perpetual bond of our Union. We have received it as the work 
of the assembled wisdom of the nation. We have trusted to it as 
to the sheet anchor of our safety, in the stormy times of conflict 
with a foreign or domestic foe. We have looked to it with sacred 
awe, as the palladium of our liberties, and, with all the solemnities 
of religion, have pledged to each other our lives and fortunes 
here, and our hopes of happiness hereafter, in its defence and sup- 
port. Were we mistaken, my countrymen, in attaching this im- 
portance to the constitution of our country? Was our devotion 
paid to the wretched, inefficient, clumsy contrivance, which this 
new doctrine would make it I Did we pledge ourselves to the sup- 
port of an airy nothing — a bubble that must be blown away by the 
first breath of disaffection ? Was this self-destroying, visionary 
theory, the work of the profound statesman, the exalted patriots, to 
whom the task of constitutional reform was intrusted? Did the 
name of Washington sanction, did the states deliberately ratify, 
such an anomaly in the history of fundamental legislation ? No. 
We were not mistaken ! The letter of this great instrument is free 
from this radical fault: its language directly contradicts the impu- 
tation : its spirit — its evident intent, contradicts it. No, we did 
not err! Our constitution does not contain the absurdity of giving 
power to make laws, and another power to resist them. The sages, 
whose memory will always be reverenced, have given us a practical, 
and, as they hoped, a permanent constitutional compact. The 
Father of his country did not affix his revered name to so palpable 
an absurdity. Nor did the states, when they severally ratified it, 



Jackson's proclamation. 377 

do so under the impression, that a veto on the laws of the United 
States was reserved to them, so that they could exercise it by 
implication. Search the debates of all their conventions — ex- 
amine the speeches of the most zealous opposers of federal autho- 
rity — look at the amendments that were proposed. They are all 
silent — not a syllable uttered, not a vote given, not a motion made, 
to correct the explicit supremacy given to the laws of the Union, 
over those of the states — or to show that implication, as is now 
contended, could defeat it. No, we have not erred! The consti- 
tution is still the object of our reverence, the bond of our Union, 
our defence in danger, the source of our prosperity and peace. It 
shall descend, as we have received it, uncorrupted by sophistical 
construction, to our posterity; and the sacrifices of local interests, 
of state prejudices, of personal animosities, that were made to 
bring it into existence, will again be patriotically offered for its 
support. 

The two remaining objections, made by the Ordinance to these 
laws, are, that the sums intended to be raised by them, are greater 
than are required, and that the proceeds will be unconstitutionally 
employed. The constitution has given expressly to Congress, the 
right of raising revenue, and of determining the sum the public 
exigencies will require. The states have no control over the ex- 
ercise of this right, other than that which results from the power 
of changing the representatives who abuse it, and thus procure 
redress. 

Congress may, undoubtedly, abuse this discretionary power, but 
the same may be said of others with which they are vested. 
Yet the discretion must exist somewhere. The constitution has 
given it to the representatives of the people, checked by the 
representatives of the states, and by the executive power. The 
South Carolina construction gives it to the legislature or the con- 
vention of a single state, where neither the people of the different 
states, nor the states in their separate capacity, nor the chief 
magistrate, elected by the people, have any representation. 
Which is the most discreet disposition of the power? I do not ask 
you, fellow-citizens, which is the constitutional disposition — that 
instrument speaks a language not to be misunderstood. But if you 
were assembled in general convention, which would you think the 
safest depository of this discretionary power, in the last resort? 
Would you add a clause, giving it to each of the states; or would 
you sanction the wise provisions already made by your constitution ? 
If this should be the result of your deliberations, when providing 
for the future, are you — can you be — ready to risk all that we hold 
dear, to establish, for a temporary and a local purpose, that which 
you must acknowledge to be destructive, and even absurd, as a 
general provision? Carry out the consequences of this right 
32* 



378 APPENDIX. 

vested in the different states, and you must perceive that the crisis 
vour conduct presents at this day, would recur whenever any law 
of the United States displeased any of the states, and that we should 
soon cease to be a nation. 

The Ordinance, with the same knowledge of the future that 
characterizes a former objection, tells you that the proceeds of the' 
tax will be unconstitutionally applied. If this should be ascertained 
with certainty, the objection would, with more propriety, be re- 
served for the law so applying the proceeds, but surely cannot be 
urged against the laws levying the duty. 

These are the allegations contained in the Ordinance. Examine 
them seriously, my fellow-citizens — judge for yourselves. I ap- 
peal to you to determine whether they are so clear, so convincing, 
as to leave no doubt of their correctness : and even if you should 
come to this conclusion, how far they justify the reckless, destruc- 
tive course, which you are directed to pursue. Review these ob- 
jections, and the conclusions drawn from them once more. What 
are they? Every law, then, for raising revenue, according to the 
South Carolina Ordinance, may be rightfully annulled, unless it be 
so framed as no law ever will or can be framed. Congress have a 
right to pass laws for raising revenue, and each state has a right to 
oppose their execution — two rights directly opposed to each other; 
and yet is this absurdity supposed to be contained in an instrument 
drawn for the express purpose of avoiding collisions between the 
states and the general government, by an assembly of the most en- 
lightened statesmen and purest patriots ever imbodied for a similar 
purpose. 

In vain have these sages declared that Congress shall have power 
to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excise — in vain have 
they provided that they shall have power to pass laws which shall 
be necessary and proper to carry those powers into execution ; that 
those laws and that constitution shall be the "supreme law of the 
land ; and that the judges in every slate shall be bound thereby, 
anything in the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary 
notwithstanding." In vain have the people of the several states 
solemnly sanctioned these provisions, made them their paramount 
law, and individually sworn to support them whenever they were 
called on to execute any office. Vain provisions! ineffectual re- 
striction! vile profanation of oaths! miserable mockery of legisla- 
tion ! if a bare majo'rity of the voters in an} r one state, may, on a real 
or supposed knowledge of the intent with which a law has been 
passed, declare themselves free from its operation — say here it gives 
too little, there too much, and operates unequally — here it suffers 
articles to be free that ought to be taxed, there it taxes those that 
ought to be free — in this case the proceeds are intended to be ap- 
plied to purposes which we do not approve; in that the amount 



jackson's proclamation. 379 

raised is more than is wanted. Congress, it is true, are invested 
by the constitution, with the right of deciding these questions ac- 
cording to their sound discretion. Congress is composed of the re- 
presentatives of all the states; and of all the people of all the 
states | but we, part of the people of one state, to whom the con- 
stitution has given no power on the subject, from whom it has ex- 
pressly taken it away — wc, who have solemnly agreed that this 
constitution shall be our law — ice, most of whom have sworn to 
support it — ice now abrogate this law, and swear, and force others 
to swear, that it shall not be obeyed — and we do this, not because 
Congress have no right to pass such laws ; this we do not allege ; 
but because they have passed them with improper views. They 
are unconstitutional from the motives of those who passed them, 
which we can never with certainty know, from their unequal ope- 
ration ; although it is impossible from the nature of things that 
they should be equal — and from the disposition which we presume 
may be made of their proceeds, although that disposition has not 
been declared. This is the plain meaning of the Ordinance in re- 
lation to laws which it abrogates for alleged unconstitutionality. 
But it does not stop there. It repeals, in express terms, an import- 
ant part of the constitution itself, and of laws passed to give it 
effect, which have never been alleged to be unconstitutional. The 
constitution declares that the judicial powers of the United "States 
extend to cases arising under the laws of the United States, and 
that such laws, the constitution, and treaties shall be paramount to 
the state constitutions and laws. The judiciary act prescribes the 
mode by which the case may be brought before a court of the 
United States, by appeal, when a state tribunal shall decide against 
this provision of the constitution. The Ordinance declares there 
shall be no appeal ; makes the state law paramount to the constitu- 
tion and laws of the United States ; forces judges and jurors to 
swear that they will disregard their provisions ; and even makes it 
penal in a suitor to attempt relief by appeal. It further declares 
that it shall not be lawful for the authorities of the United States, 
or of that state, to enforce the payment of duties imposed by the 
revenue laws within its limits. 

Here is a law of the United States, not even pretended to be un 
constitutional, repealed by the authority of a small majority of the 
voters of a single state. Here is a provision of the constitution 
which is solemnly abrogated by the same authority. 

On such expositions and reasonings, the Ordinance grounds not 
only an assertion of the right to annul the laws of which it com- 
plains, but to enforce it by a threat of seceding from the Union, if 
any attempt is made to execute them. 

This right to secede is deduced from the nature of the constitu- 
tion, which, they iay, is a compact between sovereign slates, who 



380 APrENDix. 

have preserved their whole sovereignty, and, therefore, are subject 
to no superior : that, because they made the compact, they can 
break it when, in their opinion, it has been departed from by the 
other states. Fallacious as this course of reasoning is, it enlists 
state pride, and finds advocates in the honest prejudices of those 
who have not studied the nature of our government sufficiently to 
see the radical error on which it rests. 

The people of the United States formed the constitution, acting 
through the state legislatures in making the compact, to meet and 
discuss its provisions, and acting in separate conventions when they 
ratified those provisions ; but the terms used in its construction, 
show it to be a government in which the people of all the states 
collectively are represented. We are one people in the choice of 
the president and vice-president. Here the states have no other 
agency than to direct the mode in which the votes shall be given. 
The candidates having the majority of all the votes, are chosen. 
The electors of a majority of states may have given their votes for 
one candidate, and yet another may be chosen. The people then, 
and not the states, are represented in the executive branch. 

In the House of Representatives there is this difference, that the 
people of one state do not, as in the case of president and vice-pre- 
sident, all vote for the same officers. The people of all the states 
do not vote for all the members, each state electing only its own 
representatives. But this creates no material distinction. When 
chosen, they are all representatives of the United States, not re- 
presentatives of the particular state from which they come. They 
are paid by the United States, not by the state ; nor are they ac- 
countable to it for anj' act done in the performance of their legis- 
lative functions; and, however they may in practice, as it is their 
duty to do, consult and prefer the interests of their particular con- 
stituents when they come in conflict with any other partial or local 
interest, yet it is their first and highest duty, as representatives of 
the United States, to promote the general good. 

The constitution of the United States, then, forms a government, 
not a league ; and whether it be formed by compact between the 
states, or in any other manner, its character is the same. It is a 
government in which all the people are represented, which operates 
directly on the people individually, not upon the states: they re- 
tained all the power they did not grant. But each state having ex- 
pressly parted with so many powers as to constitute jointly with 
the other states a single nation, cannot, from that period, possess 
any right to secede, because such secession does not break a league, 
but destroys the unity of a nation, and any injury to that unity is 
not only a breach which would result from the contravention of a 
compact, but it is an offence against the whole Union. To say that 
any state may at pleasure secede from the Union, is to say that the 



PROCLAMATION. 3S1 

United States are not a nation : because it would be a solecism to 
contend that any part of a nation might dissolve its connexion with 
the other parts, to their injury or ruin, without committing any 
offence. Secession, like any other revolutionary act, may be mo- 
rally justified by the extremity of oppression; but to call it a con- 
stitutional right is confounding the meaning of terms; and can only 
be done through gross error, or to deceive those who are willing to 
assert a right, but would pause before they made a revolution, or 
incur the penalties consequent on a failure. 

Because the Union was formed by compact, it is said the parties 
to that compact may, when they feel themselves aggrieved, depart 
from it ; but it is precisely because it is a compact that they can- 
not. A compact is an agreement or binding obligation. It may, 
by its terms, have a sanction or penalty for its breach, or it may 
not. If it contains no sanction, it may be broken with no other 
consequence than moral guilt : if it have a sanction, then the breach 
incurs the designated or implied penalty. A league between inde- 
pendent nations, generally, has no sanction other than a moral one ; 
or, if it should contain a penalty, as there is no common superior, 
it cannot be enforced. A government, on the contrary, always 
has a sanction, express or implied ; and, in our case, it is both ne- 
cessarily implied and expressly given. An attempt by force of 
arms to destroy a government, is an offence, by whatever means 
the constitutional compact may have been formed: and such go- 
vernment has the right, by the law of self-defence, to pass acts for 
punishing the offender, unless that right is modified, restrained, or 
resumed, by the constitutional act. In our system, although it is 
modified in the case of treason, yet authority is expressly given to 
pass all laws necessary to carry its powers into effect, and under 
this grant provision has been made for punishing acts which ob- 
struct the due administration of the laws. 

It would seem superfluous to add anything to show the nature of 
that union which connects us : but as erroneous opinions on this 
subject are the foundation of doctrines the most destructive to our 
peace, I must give some further developement to my views on this 
subject. No one, fellow-citizens, has a higher reverence for the 
reserved rights of the states, than the magistrate who now addresses 
you. No one would make greater personal sacrifices, or official ex- 
ertions, to defend them from violation ; but equal care must be 
taken to prevent on their part an improper interference with, or 
resumption of, the rights they have vested in the nation. The line 
has not been so distinctly drawn as to avoid doubts in some cases 
of the exercise of power. Men of the best intentions and soundest 
views may differ in their construction of some parts of the consti- 
tution ; but there are others on which dispassionate -reflection can 
leave no doubt. Of this nature appears to be the assumed right of 



382 APPENDIX. 

secession. It rests, as we have seen, on the alleged undivided 
sovereignty of the states, and on their having formed in this sovereign 
capacity a compact which is called the constitution, from which, 
because they made it, they have a right to secede. Both of these 
positions are erroneous, and some of the arguments to prove them 
so have been anticipated. 

The states severally have not retained their entire sovereignty. 
It has been shown that in becoming parts of a nation, not members 
of a league, they surrendered many of their essential parts of 
sovereignty. The right to make treaties — declare war — levy taxes 
— exercise exclusive judicial and legislative powers — were all of 
them functions of sovereign power. The states, then, for all these 
important purposes, were no longer sovereign. The allegiance of 
their citizens was transferred, in the first instance, to the government 
of the United States — they became American citizens, and owed 
obedience to the constitution of the United States, and to laws made 
in conformity with the powers it vested in Congress. This last 
position has not been, and cannot be denied. How then can that 
state be said to be sovereign and independent, whose citizens owe 
obedience to laws not made by it, and whose magistrates are sworn to 
disregard those laws, when they come in conflict with those passed 
by another'? What shows conclusively that the states cannot be 
said to have reserved an undivided sovereignty, is, that they ex- 
pressly ceded the right to punish treason — not treason against their 
separate power — but treason against the United States. Treason is 
an offence against sovereignty ; and sovereignty must reside with the 
power to punish it. But the reserved rights of the states are not 
less sacred, because the} r have for their common interest made the 
general government the depository of these powers. 

The unity of our political character (as has been shown for 
another purpose) commenced with its very existence. Under the 
royal government we had no separate character — our opposition to 
its oppressions began as United Colonies. We were the United 
States under the confederation, and the name was perpetuated, and 
the Union rendered more perfect, by the federal constitution. In 
none of these stages did we consider ourselves in any other light 
than as forming one nation. Treaties and alliances were made in 
the name of all. Troops were raised for the joint defence. How, 
then, with all these proofs that, under all changes of our position, 
we had, for designated purposes and with defined powers, created 
national governments — how is it, that the most perfect of those 
several modes of union should now be considered as a mere league, 
that it may be dissolved at pleasure ? It is from an abuse of terms. 
Compact is used as synonymous with league, although the true term 
is not employed, because it would at once show the fallacy of the 
reasoning. It would not do to say that our constitution was only a 



Jackson's proclamation. 383 

league, but, it is laboured to prove it a compact (which in one 
sense it is) and then to argue that as a league is a compact, every 
compact between nations must of course be a league, and that from 
such an engagement every sovereign power has a right to recede. 
But it has been shown, that in this sense the states are not sovereign, 
and that even if they were, and the national constitution had been 
formed by compact, there would be no right in any one state to 
exonerate itself from its obligations. 

So obvious are the reasons which forbid this secession, that it is 
necessary only to allude to them. The Union was formed for the 
benefit of all. It was produced by mutual sacrifices of interests 
and opinions. Can those sacrifices be recalled ? Can the states 
who magnanimously surrendered their title to the territories of the 
West, recall the grant 1 Will the inhabitants of the inland states 
agree to pay the duties that may be imposed without their assent by 
those on the Atlantic or the Gulf, for their own benefit ? Shall 
there be a free port in one state, and onerous duties in another? 
No one believes that any right exists in a single state to involve all 
the others in these and countless other evils, contrary to the engage- 
ments solemnly made. Every one must see that the other states, 
in self-defence, must oppose it at all hazards. 

These are the alternatives that are presented by the convention : 
a repeal of all the acts for raising revenue, leaving the government 
without the means of support, or an acquiescence in the dissolution 
of the Union by the secession of one of its members. When the 
first was proposed, it was known that it could not be listened to for 
a moment. It was known, if force was applied to oppose the exe- 
cution of the laws, that it must be repelled by force — that Congress 
could not, without involving itself in disgrace, and the country in 
ruin, accede to the proposition : and yet, if this is not done in a 
given day, or if any attempt is made to execute the laws, the state 
is, by the Ordinance, declared to be- out of the Union. The 
majority of a convention assembled for the purpose, have dictated 
these terms, or rather this rejection of all terms, in the name of the 
people of South Carolina. It is true, that the governor of the state 
speaks of the submission of their grievances to a convention of all 
the states; which, he says, they " sincerely and anxiously seek and 
desire." Yet this obvious and constitutional mode of obtaining the 
sense of the other states, on the construction of the federal compact, 
and amending it, if necessary, has never been attempted by those 
who have urged the state on this destructive measure. The state 
might have proposed the call for a general convention, to the other 
states, and Congress, if a Sufficient number of them concurred, must 
have called it. But the first magistrate of South Carolina, when 
he expressed a hope that, "on a review by Congress and the func- 
tionaries of the general crovernment of the merits of the contro- 



384 APPENDIX. 

versy," such a convention will be accorded to them, must have 
known that neither Congress nor any functionary of the general 
government has authority to call such a convention, unless it be 
demanded by two-thirds of the states. This suggestion, then, is 
another instance of the rfeckless inattention to the provisions 
of the constitution with which this crisis has been madly hurried 
on ; or of the attempt to persuade the people that a constitu- 
tional remedy had been sought and refused. If the legislature of 
South Carolina " anxiously desire" a general convention to consider 
their complaints, why have they not made application for it in the 
way the constitution points out? The assertion that they " ear- 
nestly seek" it, is completely negatived by the omission. 

This, then, is the position in which we stand. A small majority 
of the citizens of one state in the Union have elected delegates to 
a state convention : that convention has ordained that all the reve- 
nue laws of the United States must be repealed, or that they are 
no longer a member of the Union. The governor of that state has 
recommended to the legislature the raising of an army to carry the 
secession into effect, and that he may be empowered to give clear- 
ances to vessels in the name of the state. No act of violent oppo- 
sition to the laws has yet been committed, but such a state of things 
is hourly apprehended, and it is the intent of this instrument to 
proclaim not only that the duty imposed on me by the constitution 
"to take care that the laws be faithfully executed," shall be per- 
formed to the extent of the powers already vested in me by law, 
or of such other as the wisdom of Congress shall devise and intrust 
to me for that purpose, but to warn the citizens of South Carolina, 
who have been deluded into an opposition to the laws, of the dan- 
ger they will incur by obedience to the illegal and disorganizing 
Ordinance of the convention,— to exhort those who have refused to 
support it to persevere in their determination to uphold the consti- 
tution and laws of their country, and to point out to all the perilous 
situation into which the good people of that state have been led, — 
and that the course they are urged to pursue is one of ruin and 
disgrace to the very state whose rights they affect to support. 

Fellow-citizens of my native state ! — let me not only admonish 
you, as the first magistrate of our common country, not to incur the 
penalty of its laws, but use the influence that a father would over 
his children whom he saw rushing to certain ruin. In that paternal 
language, with that paternal feeling, let me tell you, my country- 
men, that you are deluded by men who are either deceived them- 
selves, or wish to deceive you. Mark under what pretences you 
have been led on to the brink of insurrection and treason, on which 
you stand ! First, a diminution of the value of your staple com- 
modity, lowered by over production in other quarters, and the con- 
sequent diminution in the value of your lands, were the sole effect 



jackson's proclamation. 385 

of the tariff laws. The effect, of those laws is confessedly in- 
jurious, but the evil was greatly exaggerated by the unfounded 
theory you were taught to believe, that its burdens were in propor- 
tion to your exports, not to your consumption of imported articles. 
Your pride was roused by the assertion that a submission to those 
laws was a state of vassalage, and that resistance to them was equal, 
jn patriotic merit, to the opposition our fathers offered to the op- 
pressive laws of Great Britain. You were told that this opposition 
might be peaceably — might be constitutionally made — that you 
might enjoy all the advantages of the Union and bear none or its 
burdens. 

Eloquent appeals to your passions, to your state pride, to your 
native courage, to your sense of real injury, were used to prepare 
you for the period when the mask which concealed the hideous 
features of disunion should be taken off. It fell, and you were 
made to look with complacency on objects which, not long since, 
you would have regarded with horror. Look back at the arts which 
have brought you to this state — look forward to the consequences 
to which it must inevitably lead. Look back to what was first told 
you as an inducement to enter into this dangerous course. The great 
political truth was repeated to you, that you had the revolutionary 
right of resisting all laws that were palpably unconstitutional, and 
intolerably oppressive — it was added that the right to nullify a law 
rested on the same principle, but that it was a peaceable remedy i 
This character which was given to it, made you receive with too 
much confidence the assertions that were made of the unconstitu- 
tionality of the law, and its oppressive effects. Mark, my fellow- 
citizens, that, by the admission of your leaders, the unconstitution- 
ality must be palpable, or it will not justify either resistance or 
nullification! What is the meaning of the word palpable, in the 
sense in which it is here used? — that which is apparent to every 
one; that which no man of ordinary intellect will fail to perceive. 
Is the unconstitutionality of these laws of that description'? Let 
those among your leaders who once approved and advocated the 
principle of protective duties, answer the question; and let them 
choose whether they will be considered as incapable, then, of per- 
ceiving that which must have been apparent to every man of com- 
mon understanding, or as imposing upon your confidence, and en- 
deavouring to mislead you now. 

In either case, they are unsafe guides in the perilous path they 
urge you to tread. Ponder well on this circumstance, and you will 
know how to appreciate the exaggerated language they address to 
you. They are not champions of liberty, emulating the fame 
of our revolutionary fathers ; nor are you an oppressed people, 
contending, as they repeat to you, against worse than colonial vas- 
salage. You are free members of a flourishing and happy Union. 
33 



386 APPENDIX. 

There is no settled design to oppress you. You have indeed felt 
the unequal operation of laws which may have been unwisely, 
not unconstitutionally passed ; but that inequality must necessarily 
be removed. At the very moment when you were madly urged on 
the unfortunate course you have begun, a change in public opinion 
had commenced. The nearly approaching payment of the public 
debt, and the consequent necessity of a diminution of duties, had 
already produced a considerable reduction, and that too, on some" 
articles of general consumption in your state. The importance of 
this change was understood, and you were authoritatively told, that 
no further alleviation of your burdens was to be expected, at the 
very time when the condition of the country imperiously demanded 
such a modification of the duties as should reduce them to a just 
and equitable scale. But, as if apprehensive of the effect of this 
change in allaying your discontents, you were precipitated into the 
fearful state in which you now find yourselves. 

I have urged you to look back to the means that were used to 
hurry you on to the position you have now assumed, and forward 
to the consequences it will produce. Something more is necessary. 
Contemplate the condition of that country of which you still form 
an important part ! — consider its government, uniting in one bond 
of common interests and general protection so many different states 
— giving to all their inhabitants the proud title of American citi- 
zens — protecting their commerce — securing their literature and 
their arts — facilitating their intercommunication, defending their 
frontiers — and making their name respected in the remotest parts 
of the earth ! Consider the extent of its territory, its increasing 
and happy population, its advance in arts which render life agree- 
able, and the sciences which elevate the mind ! See education 
spreading the lights of religion, humanity, and general information 
into every cottage in this wide extent of our territories and states! 
Behold it as the asylum where the wretched and the oppressed find 
a refuge and support ! Look on this picture of happiness and ho- 
nour, and say, we, too, are citizens of America ; Carolina is one 
of these proud states : her arms have defended — her best blood has 
cemented this happy Union ! And then add, if you can, without 
horror and remorse, this happy Union we will dissolve — this pic- 
ture of peace and prosperity we will deface — this free intercourse 
we will interrupt — these fertile fields we will deluge with blood — 
the protection of that glorious flag we renounce — the very name 
of Americans we discard. And for what, mistaken men ! for what 
do you throw away these inestimable blessings — for what would 
you exchange your share in the advantages and honour of the 
Union? For the dream of a separate independence, a dream in- 
terrupted by bloody conflicts with your neighbours, and a vile de- 
pendence on a foreign power. If your leaders could succeed in 



jackson's proclamation. 3S7 

establishing a separation, what would be your situation? Are you 
united at home — are you free from the apprehension of civil dis- 
cord, with all its fearful consequences? Do our neighbouring re- 
publics, every day suffering some new revolution or contending 
with some new insurrection' — do they excite your envy ? But the 
dictates of a high duty oblige me solemnly to announce that you 
cannot succeed. The laws of the United States must be executed. 
I have no discretionary power on the subject — my duty is empha- 
tically pronounced in the constitution. Those who told you that 
you might peaceably prevent their execution, deceived you — they 
could not have been deceived themselves. They know that a forci- 
ble opposition could alone prevent the execution of the laws, and 
they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their object is 
disunion ; but be not deceived by names : disunion, by armed force, 
is treason. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? If you are, 
on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dreadful conse- 
quences — on their heads be the dishonour, but on yours may fall 
the punishment — on your unhappy state will inevitably fall all the 
evils of the conflict you force upon the government of your coun- 
try. It cannot accede to the mad project of disunion of which 
you would be the first victims — its first magistrate cannot, if he 
would, avoid the performance of his duty- — the consequence must 
be fearful for you, distressing to your fellow-citizens here, and to 
the friends of good government throughout the world. Its enemies 
have beheld our prosperity with a vexation they could not conceal 
— it was a standing refutation of their slavish doctrines, and they 
will point to our discord with the triumph of malignant joy. It is 
yet in your power to disappoint them. There is yet time to show 
that the descendants of the Pinckneys, the Sumters, the Rutledges, 
and of the thousand other names which adorn the pages of your 
Revolutionaty history, will not abandon that Union, to support 
which so many of them fought and bled and died. I adjure you, 
as you honour their memory — as you love the cause of freedom, 
to which they dedicated their lives — as you prize the peace of 
your country, the lives of its best citizens, and your own fair fame, 
to retrace your steps. Snatch from the archives of your state the 
disorganizing edict of its convention — bid its members to reassem- 
ble and promulgate the decided expressions of your will to remain 
in the path which alone can conduct you to safety, prosperity, and 
honour — tell them that, compared to disunion, all other evils are 
light, because that brings with it an accumulation of all — declare 
that you will never take the field unless the star-spangled banner 
of your country shall float over you — that you will not be stigma- 
tized when dead, and dishonoured and scorned while you live, as 
the authors of the first attack on the constitution of your country! 
— its destroyers you cannot be. You may disturb its peace — you 



388 



APPENDIX. 



may interrupt the Course of its prosperity — 3 T ou may cloud its re- 
putation for stability — but its tranquillity will be restored, its pros- 
perity will return ; and the stain upon its national character will be 
transferred, and remain an eternal blot on the memory of those who 
caused the disorder. 

Fellow-citizens of the United States! The threat of unhallowed 
disunion — the names of those, once respected, by whom it is ut- 
tered — the array of military force to support it — denote the ap- 
proach of a crisis in our affairs on which the continuance of our 
unexampled prosperity, our political existence, and perhaps that 
of all free governments, may depend. The conjuncture demanded 
a free, a full, and explicit enunciation not only of my intentions, 
but of my principles of action : and as the claim was asserted of a 
right by a state to annul the laws of the Union, and even to secede 
from it at pleasure, a frank exposition of my opinions in relation 
to the origin and form of our government, and the construction I 
give to the instrument by which it was created, seemed to be pro- 
per. Having the fullest confidence in the justness of the legal and 
constitutional opinion of my duties which has been expressed, I 
rely with equal confidence on your undivided support in my de- 
termination to execute the laws — to preserve the Union by all con- 
stitutional means — to arrest, if possible, by moderate but firm mea- 
sures, the necessity of a recourse to force ; and, if it be the will 
of Heaven that the recurrence of its primeval curse on man for 
the shedding of a brother's blood should fall upon our land, that it 
be not called down by any offensive act on the part of the United 
States. 

Fellow-citizens ! The momentous case is before you. On your 
undivided support of your government depends the decision of the 
great question it involves, whether your sacred Union will be pre- 
served, and the blessing it secures to us as one people shall be per- 
petuated. No one can doubt the unanimity with which that de- 
cision will be expressed, will be such as to inspire new confidence 
in republican institutions, and that the prudence, the wisdom, and 
the courage which it will bring to their defence, will transmit them 
unimpaired and invigorated, to our children. 

May the great Ruler of nations grant that the signal blessings 
with which He has favoured ours, may not by the madness of party 
or personal ambition be disregarded and lost : and may His wise 
Providence bring those who have produced this crisis, to see the 
folly before they feel the misery of civil strife: and inspire a re- 
turning veneration for that Union which, if we may dare to pene- 
trate His designs, he has chosen as the only means of attaining the 
high destinies to which we may reasonably aspire. 



THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT 



OF 



ANDREW JACKSON, 



Hermitage, June 7th, 1843. 

In the Name of God, Amen : — I, Andrew Jackson, Sen'r., 
being of sound mind, memory, and understanding, and im- 
pressed with the great uncertainty of life and the certainty of 
death, and being desirous to dispose of my temporal affairs so 
that after my death no contention may arise relative to the 
same — And whereas, since executing my will of the 30th of 
September, 1833, my estate has become greatly involved by my 
liabilities for the debts of my well-beloved and adopted son An- 
drew Jackson, Jun., which makes it necessary to alter the same : 
Therefore I, Andrew Jackson, Sen'r., of the county of Davidson, 
and state of Tennessee, do make, ordain, publish, and declare 
this my last will and testament, revoking all other wills by me 
heretofore made. 

First, I bequeath my body to the dust whence it comes, and 
my soul to God who gave it, hoping for a happy immortality 
through the atoning merits of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Sa- 
viour of the world. My desire is, that my body be buried by 
the side of my dear departed wife, in the garden at the Her- 
mitage, in the vault prepared in the garden, and all expenses 
paid by my executor hereafter named. 

Secondly, That all my just debts to be paid out of my per- 
sonal and real estate by my executor ; for which purpose to 
meet the debt my good friends Gen'l. J. B. Planchin & Co. of 

(107) 



408 APPENDIX. 

New Orleans, for the sum of six thousand dollars, with the in- 
terest accruing thereon, loaned to me to meet the debt due by 
A. Jackson, Jun., for the purchase of the plantation from Hi- 
ram G. Runnels, lying on the east bank of the river Mississippi, 
in the state of Mississippi. Also, a debt due by me of ten thou- 
sand dollars, borrowed of my friends Blair and Rives, of the 
city of Washington and District of Columbia, with the interest 
accruing thereon ; being applied to the payment of the lands 
bought of Hiram G. Runnels as aforesaid, and for the faithful 
payment of the aforesaid recited debts, I hereby bequeath all 
my real and personal estate. After these debts are fully paid — 

Thirdly, I give and bequeath to my adopted son, Andrew 
Jackson, Junior, the tract of land whereon I now live, known 
by the Hermitage tract, with its butts and boundaries, with all 
its appendages of the three lots of land bought of Samuel 
Donelson, Thomas J. Donelson, and Alexander Donelson, sons 
and heirs of Sovern Donelson, deceased, all adjoining the Her- 
mitage tract, agreeable to their butts and boundaries, with all 
the appurtenances thereto belonging or in any wise appertain- 
ing, with all my negroes that I may die possessed of, with the 
exception hereafter named, with all their increase after the be- 
fore recited debts are fully paid, with all the household furni- 
ture, farming tools, stock of all kind, both on the Hermitage 
tract farms, as well as those on the Mississippi plantation, to 
him and his heirs for ever. — The true intent and meaning of this 
my last will and testament is, that all my estate, real, personal, 
and mixed, is hereby first pledged for the payment of the 
above recited debts and interest ; and when they are fully paid, 
the residue of all my estate, real, personal, and mixed, is here- 
by bequeathed to my adopted son A. Jackson, Jun., with the 
exceptions hereafter named, to him and his heirs for ever. 

Fourth, Whereas I have heretofore by conveyance, deposited 
with my beloved daughter Sarah Jackson, wife of my adopted 
son A. Jackson, Jun., given to my beloved granddaughter, Ra- 
chel Jackson, daughter of A. Jackson, Jun. and Sanh his wife* 



LAST WfEL AND TESTAMENT. 409 

several negroes therein described, which I hereby confirm. — I 
give and bequeath to my beloved grandson Andrew Jackson, 
son of A. Jackson, Jun. and Sarah his wife, a negro boy named 
Ned, son of Blacksmith Aaron and Hannah his wife, to him and 
his heirs for ever. 

Fifth, I give and bequeath to my beloved little grandson, 
Samuel Jackson, son of A. Jackson, Jun. and his much beloved 
wife Sarah, one negro boy named Davy or George, son of 
Squire and his wife Giney, to him and his heirs for ever. 

Sixth, To my beloved and affectionate daughter, Sarah Jack- 
son, wife of my adopted and well beloved son, A. Jackson, Jun., 
I hereby recognise, by this bequest, the gift I made her on her 
marriage, of the negro girl Gracy, which I bought for her, and 
gave her to my daughter Sarah as her maid and seamstress, with 
her increase, with my house-servant Hanna and her two daugh- 
ters, namely, Charlotte and Mary, to her and her heirs for ever. 
This gift and bequest is made for my great affection- for her — 
as a memento of her uniform attention to me and kindness on 
all occasions, and particularly when worn down with sickness, 
pain, and debility — she has been more than a daughter to me, 
and I hope she never will be disturbed in the enjoyment of this 
gift and bequest by any one. 

Seventh, I bequeath to my well beloved nephew, Andrew J. 
Donelson, son of Samuel Donelson, deceased, the elegant sword 
presented to me by the state of Tennessee, with this injunction, 
that he fail not to use it when necessary in support and protec- 
tion of our glorious union, and for the protection of the consti- 
tutional rights of our beloved country, should they be assailed 
by foreign enemies or domestic traitors. This, from the great 
change in my worldly affairs of late, is, with my blessing, all I 
can bequeath him, doing justice to those creditors to whom I am 
responsible. This bequest is made as a memento of my high 
regard, affection, and esteem I bear for him as a high-minded, 
honest, and honourable man. 

Eighth, To my grand-nephew Andrew Jackson Coffee, I be- 



410 APPENDIX. 

queath the elegant sword presented to me by the Rifle Com- 
pany of New Orleans, commanded by Capt. Beal, as a me- 
mento of my regard, and to bring to his recollection the gallant 
services of his deceased father Gen'l. John Coffee, in the late In- 
dian and British war, under my command, and his gallant con- 
duct in defence of New Orleans in 1814 and 1815 ; with this 
injunction, that he wield it in the protection of the rights secured 
to the American citizen under our glorious constitution, against 
all invaders, whether foreign foes, or intestine traitors. 

I bequeath to my beloved grandson Andrew Jackson, son of 
A. Jackson, Jun. and Sarah his wife, the sword presented to 
me by the citizens of Philadelphia, with this injunction, that he 
will always use it in defence of the constitution and our glori- 
ous union, and the perpetuation of our republican system : re- 
membering the motto — " Draw me not without occasion, nor 
sheath me without honour." 

The pistols of Gen'l. Layfayette, which were presented by 
him to Gen'l. George Washington, and by Col. Wm. Robertson 
presented to me, I bequeath to George Washington Lafayette, 
as a memento of the illustrious personages through whose hands 
they have passed — his father, and the father of his country. 

The gold box presented to me by the corporation of the City 
of New York, the large silver vase presented to me by the 
ladies of Charleston, South Carolina, my native state, wdth the 
large picture representing the unfurling of the American ban- 
ner, presented to me by the citizens of South Carolina when it 
was refused to be accepted by the United States Senate, I leave 
in trust to my son A. Jackson, Jun., with directions that should 
our happy country not be blessed wath peace, an event not 
always to be expected, he will at the close of the war or end of 
the conflict, present each of said articles of inestimable value, to 
that patriot residing in the city or state from which they were 
presented, w r ho shall be adjudged by his countrymen or the la- 
dies to have been the most valiant in defence of his country and 
our country's rights. 



LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT. 411 

The pocket spyglass which was used by Gen'l. Washington 
during the revolutionary war, and presented to me by Mr. Cus- 
tis, having been burned with my dwelling-house, the Hermit- 
age, with many other invaluable relics, I can make no disposi- 
tion of them. As a memento of my high regard for Gen'l. Ro- 
bert Armstrong as a gentleman, patriot, and soldier, as well as 
for his meritorious military services under my command during 
the late British and Indian w r ar, and remembering the gallant 
bearing of him and his gallant little band at Enotochopco creek, 
when, falling desperately wounded, he called out — " My brave 
fellows, some may fall, but save the cannon" — as a memento of 
all these things, I give and bequeath to him my case of pistols 
and sword worn by me throughout my military career, well 
satisfied that in his hands they will never be disgraced — that 
they will never be used or drawn without occasion, nor sheathed 
but with honour. 

Lastly, I leave to my beloved son all my walking-canes and 
other relics, to be distributed amongst my young relatives — 
namesakes — first, to my much esteemed namesake, Andrew J. 
Donelson, son of my esteemed nephew A. J. Donelson, his first 
choice, and then to be distributed as A. Jackson, Jun. may think 
proper. 

Lastly, I appoint my adopted son Andrew Jackson, Jun., my 
whole and sole executor to this my last will and testament, and 
direct that no security be required of him for the faithful execu- 
tion and discharge of the trusts hereby reposed in him. 

In testimony whereof I have this 7th day of June, one thou- 
sand eight hundred and forty-three, hereunto set my hand, and 
affixed my seal, hereby revoking all wills heretofore made by 
me, and in the presence of 

Marion Adams, \ 

Elizabeth D. Love, 5 ANDREW JACKSON. {Seal.) 

Thos. J. Donelson, £ 

Richard Smith, 

R. Armstrong. $ 



412 APPENDIX. 

State of Tennessee, Davidson County Court, 

July Term, 1845. J 

A paper writing, purporting to be the last will and testa- 
ment of Andrew Jackson, Sen., dec'd., was produced in open 
court for probate, and proved thus: — Marion Adams, Eliza- 
beth D. Love, and Richard Smith, three of the subscribing wit- 
nesses thereto, being first duly sworn, depose and say, that they 
became such in the presence of the said Andrew Jackson, Sr., 
dec'd., and at his request and in the presence of each other; and 
that they verily believe he was of sound and disposing mind and 
memory at the time of executing the same. 

Ordered, That said paper writing be admitted to record as 
such will and testament of the said Andrew Jackson, Sr., dec'd. 
Whereupon Andrew Jackson, Jun., the executor named in said 
will, came into court and gave bond in the sum of two hundred 
thousand dollars, (there being no security required by said will,) 
and qualified according to law. 

Ordered, That he have letters testamentary granted to him. 

State of Tennessee, Davidson County : 

I, Robert B. Castleman, Clerk of the County Court, of said 
county, do certify that the foregoing is a true and perfect copy 
of the original will of Andrew Jackson, Sr., dec'd., together 
with the probate of the same, as proven at the July term, 184-5, 
of said court, as the same remains of record in my office. In 
testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, and affixed 
the seal of said court at my office, this the loth day of August, 
^/, tJ v in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred 
kp.i.im | an d forty-five. 

«45&a^ Ro. B. Castleman, 

By his deputy, 

Phineas Garrett. 






A CORRESPONDENCE 



BETWEEN 



GEN. A. JACKSON AND COM. J. D. ELLIOTT. 



The patriotic reply of General Jackson to Commodore J. D. Elliot's 
letter, tendering him the use of the Sarcophagus obtained by him at 
Palestine, as his final resting-place, having been alluded to in several 
of the eulogies in this work, and it having been thought proper to insert 
it in this place, Commodore Elliott has kindly furnished the Editor with 
the correspondence. 



Washington City, March 18th, 1845. 

My Dear General : — Last night I made something of a 
speech at the National Institute, and have offered for their 
acceptance the sarcophagus which I obtained at Palestine, 
brought home in the Constitution, and believed to contain the 
remains of the Roman emperor, Alexander Severus, with the 
suggestion that it might be tendered you for your final resting- 
place. I pray you, General, to live on in the fear of the Lord ; 
dying the death of a Roman soldier ; an emperor's coffin awaits 
you. 

I am truly your old friend, 

Jesse D. Elliott. 

To General Andrew Jackson. 



Hermitage, March 27, 1845. 

Dear Sir : — Your letter of the 18th instant, together with 
the copy of the proceedings of the National Institute, furnished 
me by their corresponding secretary, on the presentation, by 



(413) 



414 APPENDIX. 

you, of the sarcophagus for their acceptance, on condition it 
shall be preserved, and in honour of my memory, have been 
received, and are now before me. 

Although labouring under great debility and affliction, from a 
severe attack from which I may not recover, I raise my pen 
and endeavour to reply. The steadiness of my nerves may 
perhaps lead you to conclude my prostration of strength is not 
so great as here expressed. Strange as it may appear, my 
nerves are as steady as they were forty years gone by ; whilst, 
from debility and affliction, I am gasping for breath. 

I have read the whole proceedings of the presentation, by you, 
of the sarcophagus, and the resolutions passed by the board of 
directors, so honourable to my fame, with sensations and feelings 
more easily to be conjectured than by me expressed. The whole 
proceedings call for my most grateful thanks, which are hereby 
tendered to you, and through you to the president and directors 
of the National Institute. But with the warmest sensations 
that can inspire a grateful heart, I must decline accepting the 
honour intended to be bestowed. I cannot consent that my 
mortal body shall be laid in a repository prepared for an empe- 
ror or a king. My republican feelings and principles forbid it ; 
the simplicity of our system of government forbids it. Every 
monument erected to perpetuate the memory of our heroes and 
statesmen ought to bear evidence of the economy and simplicity 
of our republican institutions, and the plainness of our republi- 
can citizens, who are the sovereigns of our glorious Union, and 
whose virtue it is to perpetuate it. True virtue cannot exist 
where pomp and parade are the governing passions ; it can only 
dwell with the people — the great labouring and producing 
classes that form the bone and sinew of our confederacy. 

For these reasons I cannot accept the honour you and the 
president and directors of the National Institute intended to 
bestow. I cannot permit my remains to be the first in these 
United States to be deposited in a sarcophagus made for an 



APPENDIX. 415 

emperor or king. I again repeat, please accept for yourself, 
and convey to the president and directors of the National Insti- 
tute, my most profound respects for the honour you and they in- 
tended to bestow. I have prepared a humble depository for my 
mortal body beside that wherein lies my beloved wife, where, 
without any pomp or parade, I have requested, when my God 
calls me to sleep with my fathers, to be laid ; for both of us 
there to remain until the last trumpet sounds to call the dead to 
judgment, when we, I hope, shall rise together, clothed with 
that heavenly body promised to all who believe in our glorious 
Redeemer, who died for us that we might live, and by whose 
atonement I hope for a blessed immortality. 
I am, "with great respect, 

Your friend and fellow-citizen, 

Andrew Jackson. 
To Com. J. D. Elliott, United States Navy. 



Navy Yard, Philadelphia, April 8, 1845. 

Gentlemen : — The interest which the National Institute has 
been pleased to take in the eventual bestowment of the remains 
of the honoured Andrew Jackson in the sarcophagus which I 
brought from abroad, and deposited in your institute, makes it 
my business now to communicate to you a copy of his letter of 
the 27th ultimo, lately received, on that subject. 

With sentiments so congenial to his strict republicanism — and 
in accordance, indeed, with the republican feelings common to 
ourselves — he takes the ground of repugnance to connecting his 
name and fame in any way with imperial associations. 

We cannot but honour the sentiments which have ruled his 
judgment in the case ; for they are such as must add to the 
lustre of his character. We subscribe to them ourselves ; and 
while we yield to their force, we may still be permitted to con- 
tinue our regard to the enduring marble, as to an ancient and 



416 APPENDIX. 

classic relic — a curiosity in itself, and particularly in this coun- 
try, as the first of its kind seen in our Western hemisphere. 

From it we would deduce the moral, that, while we should 
disclaim the pride, pomp, and circumstance of imperial pagean- 
try, as unfitting our institutions and professions, we would sedu- 
lously cherish the simpler republican principle of reposing our 
fame and honours in the hearts and affections of our country- 
men. 

I have now, in conclusion, to say, that, as the sarcophagus 
was originally presented with the suggestion of using it as above- 
mentioned, I now commit it wholly to the institute as their own 
and sole property, exempt from any condition. 
I am, very respectfully, yours, &c, 

Jesse Duncan Elliott, 

To the President and Directors of the 
National Institute, at Washington. 



&77-1 



